


No one parties like a Hufflepuff

by Thatbookthere



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M, Fluff and Humor
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-06-06
Updated: 2018-06-11
Packaged: 2019-05-18 22:22:53
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 29,000
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14861384
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Thatbookthere/pseuds/Thatbookthere
Summary: Gryffindors are brave, Ravenclaws are smart, Slytherins are ambitious and Hufflepuffs are crazy good dancers. Seriously,  we're all naturals. Of course there are other traits to be proud of, I, for example, am sneaky, sarcastic and incredibly good at pranking. I rival the four infamous boys on that last one, and instead of facing endless detentions and the wrath of teachers, I just blame them; it was the Marauders. It's always the Marauders. Until, of course, someone realised I'm a little more mischievous than I appear. Roll on the trouble... and the parties.





	1. Trigger word

### Trigger Word

#### Everyone has a trigger word, and leave it to James Potter and Sirius Black to figure out mine. Perfect.

Waking up is hard. Or I think it is at least. My goody-two-shoes brother never seemed to have any problem getting up on a morning. “More time spent awake means more time to learn new things” he’d say in a singsong voice before running forward into my room to pull my cover away from me, at which point I’d throw a pillow at him and he’d laugh and tackle me out of bed. He may have been the biggest nerd in the world but he was strong, although I could just be weak, probably a bit of both.

I glance around my room, taking in my two roommates still lying under their violently yellow duvets, and let my eyes rest on the clock sitting on my bedside table. I can’t help the groan that escapes me as I register the time it shows. “Why can’t classes start at eleven or something?” I ask the room. The only response I get is a short laugh from Carly, whose head is buried beneath her pillow, and grouchy mumblings from Emily as she stumbles past my bed into the bathroom. It’s always difficult to tell whether Em is kidding or not; she doesn’t quite get how sarcasm works, which I find immensely funny, ‘cause as far as I know, no one uses as much sarcasm as me so it’s a wonder she understands anything I say at all.

I briefly consider staying in bed and skipping my classes for the day but I kick away my covers instead and stumble towards my trunk. Gathering my uniform in my arms I start banging on the bathroom door, earning a shout from both of my roommates and promises to kill me if I don’t shut up. Creepy the way twins can speak in unison, even at the painfully early time of seven am. 

“Hurry up Emily, I need tea!” I shout, still banging on the door.

“Well go get tea and I’ll be done by the time you get back!” she shouts back.

“I am not going for breakfast without a shower, now scoot” I argue, silently hoping the mention of breakfast will spur her to hurry. 

“Fine, pushy” I hear her mutter the last word and stifle a laugh, oh yeah, _I’m_ the pushy one. Not the crazy prefect. 

The desire to laugh increases tenfold when she strides out of the bathroom, trying her best to look annoyed but failing to control the corner of her mouth, which just wants to smirk. Holding in a smirk of my own, I head into the bathroom and start up the shower. Soon it’ll be Carly’s turn in the bathroom and I do not want to face a cranky Carly, better make this a quick shower. 

I stick to my promise and only take ten minutes to wash my hair, but fixing the tangled mess may take a little while. I sigh as I poke the red strands with the tip of my wand. Okay, it may take a long while. Thank merlin for magic.

Within the next ten minutes my hair is tied in a messy bun on my head with loose curls framing my heart-shaped face, my make-up enlarges my brown eyes and my uniform shows my curvy figure without making me look like the one of the sluts from Slytherin. I’m just unlocking the door as Carly tumbles out of bed with a grunt. Ah, so ladylike. I offer her a hand up before she trips again and she takes it gratefully before straightening to glare at me.

“How could you?” she asks, her voice full of venom. Catching her flickering glance at Emily, I quickly turn my smile into a frown.

“How could I what?”

“You know exactly what!” she screams, gaining the attention of Em from the opposite side of the room. “You look like a freaking model and I look like an ogre!”

“Oh shut up, Carly” I tut, “you’re such a bitch, you know that? You can’t just say I look nice like a _normal_ person, you have to go and make this about you!” 

“Oh yeah, cause I’m such a self-centred cow, look at yourself, would you?”

My reply is cut off by Emily standing between us looking confused, “the hell is wrong with you two? This is ridiculous.”

“No it isn’t” Carly and I shout together. I almost break the act by laughing at our ability to shout in unison. Maybe it isn’t just a twin thing.

Turns out it doesn’t matter whether I laugh or not ‘cause Carly chooses this moment to break in to uncontrolled fits of giggles as she skips to the bathroom calling “one day Emily, you won’t fall for that” over her shoulder.

_Traitor_ , I think as Carly leaves me to face the wrath of her twin alone. Trying to avoid the lecture I smile winningly and say “and when that day comes, we will be so proud” before running through the bedroom door and head to the great hall for breakfast, pausing long enough to swoop my bag up from the floor.

The twins have been my best friends ever since the sorting hat decided that we were the only girls of our year suited to a place in Hufflepuff. Sharing a dorm with the two had been hell at first; with Emily storming around trying to organise a cleaning schedule and Carly ignoring everything she said, it was difficult to find a place. But if there’s one thing a Hufflepuff can do, it’s make friends. I learned to speak up more, and they accepted me for the sarcastic troublemaker I am, even if they still get scared of my mischievous ways on occasion. Honestly, I don’t know what their problem with pranks is about, it’s not like I’m stupid enough to get caught, and if in doubt; blame the marauders. A motto I swear by, Filch hates them so much, it’s a wonder every student doesn’t blame them.

I managed to rig an everlasting waterfall in the doorway of history of magic once; students were drenched on entering the room and Professor Binns didn’t even notice; too busy prattling on about some goblin war. It took three days for poor Flitwick to find the charm to disable the waterfall, I would have felt bad if it weren’t so funny, he was sopping wet by the time he’d finished and I could hear him squelching all the way to his office. 

Best part of that trick was seeing McGonagall interrogating our four famous Gryffindors on how they managed to perform the charm, and when they failed to offer an adequate answer, were given three weeks detention “one week for every day that class was disrupted” she’d said. Yeah, causing trouble was fun.

\----------

Settling into a seat in the great hall and grabbing a cup of tea, I greet the boys. Joey, Leon and Mark are all sixth years, like me, and just so happen to be the kindest and funniest guys I know. It’s not uncommon to meet kind people in Hufflepuff, if they were cruel, they’d be somewhere else, but kind _and_ funny? Rare. Humour is difficult, it’s especially difficult when it goes against your nature to be mean. How are you supposed to make a joke when it could offend someone else? These boys have apparently found an answer; you just have to know it’s a joke. 

When I wrap my hands around my mug Leon notices me and smiles, showing the dimples in his cheeks. “Morning my Jem” he says sweetly.

“Eh, no, she’s _my_ Jem” interrupts Mark, shuffling along the bench to throw an arm around my shoulders. 

“Not what she told me last night” Leon shoots back.

“What?!” shouts Mark, staring at me with wide eyes, feigning hurt.

“Sorry Mark,” I interrupt, “but Leon has dimples, you don’t. The choice was made for me.” 

“But I’m captain of the quidditch team! That’s got to count for something, right?”

“Dimples trump quidditch captain, sorry. They’re just so cute!”

Now it was Leon’s turn to shout, “cute?! I’m not cute I’m manly.”

Joey, who up to now had just been observing ended the argument with a grin, “she’s lying to you both. I’m her one true love.”

“I’ll love you all if you shut up and let me drink my tea” I say before Mark and Leon get the chance to threaten Joey’s life. 

“Ah fighting over Jem again I see,” I hear from Carly as she sits down next to Joey, her twin in tow.

“Yeah, it’s because I don’t look like an ogre,” my statement gains a grin from Carly, a frown from Emily and confused looks from the boys. “Now shush, I have an essay to finish for potions first lesson and don’t fancy facing the wrath of Sluggy at this time of the morning.”

“You said you did it yesterday!” shouts an incredulous Emily. She hates it when I leave homework till the last minute.

“So I lied, besides, I work better under pressure” my following grin either scares her or calms her enough to believe me and I set to work, sipping my tea as I write.

I’m just finishing my conclusion when a hand circles my elbow and tugs me towards potions class, barely giving me time to shove my freshly written essay into my bag along with my quill and ink. Looking up, I realise the hand belongs to a frantic Emily. “What?” I ask confused, we have plenty time to get to class, no reason to worry.

“Slytherins” is all I get in return.

Coming to a halt I look down the corridor to see a gang of students in green and black robes, circling a Gryffindor girl who appears to be crying. “Ah, shit” I breathe “looks like a first year.”

“She’s crying” Emily points out, clearly at a loss for a way to help.

Looking around the hallway, I try to picture all the secret passages I know that lead to this corridor. I almost give up hope before I notice the mirror the first year is leaning against, I know that mirror.

“I’ll be right back” I whisper to Emily before running away from the scene and up to a tapestry hanging on the wall around the corner. I glance around quickly to make sure no one is looking at me before slipping behind the wall-hanging into a thin brick corridor. Rushing through the passage, I am lead to a familiar looking mirror, one that shows a girl hunched over with her head in her hands, surrounded by sixth year Slytherin boys. Okay, time for some fun. 

I pull my wand and point it at the suit of armour standing next to two of the boys. Whispering enchantments, the suit’s hand twitches before latching onto the hood of the boys in front of it. Their shouts are muffled by my next charm so the remaining boys aren’t alerted to their calls for help. Two down, four to go.

I take out another two by soaking their shoes with water then freezing it to immobilise them; unfortunately, I’m too busy laughing to muffle their cries. When the last two bullies turn to find their friends either frozen to the spot or in a nasty looking headlock I quickly push open the latch for the mirror and grab the girl’s hood to tug her into the passageway before resealing the mirror closed.

I glance at the surprised girl and smile, putting a finger to my lips and point towards the mirror, signalling they might be able to hear us still. Turns out the warning was unnecessary as the now scared group of boys break free from the charms holding them and run down the hallway, charging past a grinning Emily who is staring directly at me through the mirror, despite the fact she can’t actually see me.

“Thanks” I hear the girl whisper, drawing my attention back to her, instead of the retreating boys. 

I smile softly, noticing the tear tracks on her face. “Any time” I assure her. “What’s your name?”

“Jess”

“Well Jess, you’d better get to class before you’re late” I say, wiping away the tears on her face, trying to erase the damage they’ve done. “And if they bother you again just shout for me, okay?” 

“Okay” she smiles.

“Good, my name’s Jem by the way, and that girl standing outside the mirror is Emily, she’s a prefect and will help too, if you ask.”

I reopen the mirror onto a smiling Emily and watch as Jess runs off to her class. Turning back to Em I notice her still growing smile. 

“What?” I ask confused and slightly uncomfortable.

“Nothing” she sighs happily, “I just never thought your hobby of finding these passages would be a good thing.”

I smile back, “does that mean you’ll stop threatening me with your prefect powers when I sneak out?” 

She considers but I can tell what the answers going to be before she even opens her mouth. “No”.

Suspicions confirmed. I trudge to the dungeons for first class.

\----------

“Today we will be brewing the Draught of Peace” smiles Slughorn from the front of the class, somehow oblivious to the fact most students were too busy fighting to stay awake to listen to what he has to say. “You will be working alone so no conferring with your friends, instructions are on the board, questions? No? Good” he laughs, clutching his stomach as if in pain, “then brew!” 

Ignoring Sluggy for the time being, I head to the store cupboard and grab double the amount of ingredients than I need and carry it to the bench Leon and I work at. Leon happens to be incredibly skilled at DADA but sucks big time at potions. Seriously, he can’t even light the fire for the cauldron without breaking something. He smiles gratefully at me as I start cutting up my haul and brewing both of our potions simultaneously whilst he copies down two sets of notes. A system we’ve been working for years; I get neat notes, he gets to pass the course. I even took his OWL exam for him, amazing what a bit of ployjuice potion will do; though I will add that it tastes disgusting.

I manage to get halfway through our potions when Sluggy joins us and I quickly drop Leon’s stirring rod. “Looks good” he mumbles as he passes but he’s still too close for me to continue with both potions.

“Copy everything I do, when I do it” I whisper in Leon’s direction, this can’t go well.

I slowly start to slice my bat’s liver into ten equal slices, careful to watch Leon doing the same, if not as neatly, then add them one at a time to my potion, stirring twice counter clockwise each time. After adding the liver Leon’s potion is blue instead of the green it’s supposed to be and I sigh, nudging him out of the way to try and rectify it, unfortunately, Slughorn chooses this moment to turn around and catch us. Damn.

“Miss East, would you mind telling me exactly what you think you’re doing?” his voice booms and echoes, causing the room to go completely silent and heads to turn in my direction. 

“She was just he-” Leon starts before I blurt out “I’m sorry, sir, I couldn’t get the colour right and wanted to see how Leon did it.”

Slughorn doesn’t seem to care much about my apology. “Well Jemima-”

“Don’t call me that!” I cry out suddenly then slap my hand over my mouth. ‘Oops’ doesn’t even _begin_ to cover it.

No one responds. Even Sluggy doesn’t say anything.

“Sorry” I choke out “I just… I don’t…” 

“Five points from Hufflepuff, Miss East, for cheating” I nod, grateful he didn’t call me by my name again. Only one person ever calls me Jemima, and he can’t anymore. “And I would like you to switch seats with Lily, if you would.”

I pick up my bag and head to my new seat, levitating my cauldron and ingredients behind me. As I pass Lily I feel her stares on me, I feel _everyone’s_ stares. Hufflepuffs don’t snap at teachers like that. Ever. As I slide into my new seat and continue with my potion I feel people losing interest in me and my outburst. It’s not my fault I burst like that, he called me Jemima, everyone has a trigger word, mine just happens to be my name. 

“You okay?” I jump out of my seat. I’d forgotten it wasn’t Leon next to me anymore. I turn to meet the amused gaze of James Potter. Nice, he’s laughing at my reaction to him. 

“Fine” I snap at him, stirring my potion. 

“Oh _really_ ,” he smirks at me, “’cause I was under the impression that you were not okay, judging by the way you just screamed at The Slug and jumped about a mile when I spoke to you.”

“Okay, firstly, I did not _scream_ , and secondly I was just so surprised that a superstar prankster extraordinaire like yourself would talk to a nobody like me that I jumped a tiny bit. Not my fault you’re so scarily sexy, is it?” I smirk back, laying on the sarcasm.

“Wow, we found a feisty Hufflepuff. Never thought I’d see the day,” the voice of one Sirius Black comes from behind me, causing me to jump, _again_. “Oh look James, she jumped for me too! Does that make me scarily sexy too?”

Wary of the joy and mischief playing in his dark eyes, I taunt back “No, you’re just scary.”

Turns out, that was the wrong decision. His smirk turns into a full out grin and I sigh, for over five years I’ve managed to avoid these two and _now_ my invisibility fails, really? 

“Sirius, are you thinking what I’m thinking?” James asks.

“You know what, I think I am” he replies, still grinning at me.

“We found ourselves a keeper” they say in absolute unison. Beyond creepy.

“Okay, there’s my cue to leave” I say, snapping them out of whatever disturbing fantasy they had playing in their heads. I quickly pour some of my potion into two vials. Aware of Potter and Black’s eyes on me I turn to face them both. “I know you’re not idiots and I can’t hide this from you, so I’m asking, _please_ don’t rat me out to Sluggy” I don’t spare them a second glance as I write ‘Leon’ onto the second vial and ‘Jem’ onto the first. 

“Oh, it was him that was cheating,” I hear James muse aloud.

“She was helping him,” Sirius chimes in.

“Okay, lovely Jem, we will keep your shocking betrayal of dear Professor Slughorn’s trust to ourselves.” James swears.

I’m just about to say thank you before Sirius cuts in with “ _if_ , you tell us why you flipped at the sound of your own name.” His winning smirk has me cornered. These boys don’t deserve to know anything about me, but then I also can’t leave my friend to fail. Clever idiots.

I glare at them both, before looking over at Leon desperately trying to control the bubbles popping on the top of his cauldron. I feel the faces of James and Sirius press against each side of my face as they too stare at my struggling friend. 

“You wouldn’t leave your poor, _poor_ friend to suffer would you?” Black taunts. And the annoying thing is; he’s right, I wouldn’t. 

I close my eyes tight and blurt out “My brother chose that name for me when I was born out of a muggle children’s book.” 

James turns to look me in the eye with obvious curiosity, “so?”

“He’s dead.” I state, earning an abundance of emotions from the two boys staring at me, shock, sadness and guilt are the main ones I catch. I turn and hand in my two vials to Slughorn before linking arms with Leon and leaving the room.  



	2. Payback time

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Annoyed by Potter's persistent form following me around, I decide a little payback is in order.

There are some very clear differences between Emily and myself. She, for example, likes order, quiet and doing homework. I on the other hand like chaos, loud and avoiding homework. These are probably the reasons she was chosen to be prefect over me, I don’t even want to imagine what the school would look like with me in a position of power. It would probably have a lot less lessons in it, and _definitely_ a nap room. 

“A nap room would be beneficial” I state, distracting Emily from her Transfiguration essay. Poor girl hasn’t stopped for hours, she’s not very naturally smart, but what she lacks in natural talent she makes up for in effort, something I lack. Luckily I am naturally smart, or I guess I am at least, I’m close to top in all of my classes without trying so I figure I can slack off all I want and no one would suspect a thing. Except Emily. The only reason my completed pile of homework is sitting in front of me is thanks to her bugging me about it. 

“What?” she snaps; annoyed at my interruption.

“I was just thinking we should have a nap room” I explain, ignoring her glare. Poor grumpy prefect. 

“A what?” she asks, an exaggerated sigh tagging along on the end, making me smile.

“A nap room! Honest Em it would be the best, you could go in between classes for naps, then you could go to your next lesson revitalised and ready to learn” I say, knowing I’m appealing to her love of learning. I was right; the idea would appeal to more than just the lazy, sleep lovers of the student body. A group I firmly include myself in.

“It’s still a stupid idea” she declares, snapping out of what I assume was a fantasy of being able to learn without being tired. 

“I think it’s an incredible idea” I hear a voice state loudly behind me, making Emily jump and fall off her stool, which I just chuckle at. James Potter had been jumping out at annoyingly close intervals, in what I assume is an attempt at earning my forgiveness for blackmailing me in potions on Monday only to receive an answer he didn’t seem to want after all. Unfortunately for him, the only thing he’s earning from me is my annoyance. Thanks to his apparent guilt, I haven’t been able to prank _at all_ this week and I am starting to get cranky. I need a way to blow off some steam, and exact some revenge, pranking seems like the perfect way to do both. 

“I wonder, Potter, are you going to agree with _every_ opinion I have?” I ask, losing my patience.

“Yes, except the one where you want me to leave. That’s a bad view to have” he says, quite cleverly anticipating the next opinion I would voice. I swallow my retort as Emily plonks back into her stool with a huff, making me laugh. My laughter escalates when she focuses her glare on Potter, deciding he was a better target ‘cause I’m not likely to feel sorry for her for falling over. It wasn’t _my_ fault.

“Well, as much fun as all this homework has been, I have some avoiding Gryffindors to do so I’ll be in the common room if you need me” I say, gathering my completed essays. With a smile towards Emily I leave the library, the eyes of Potter following me the entire way.

Instead of heading to the common room, as I’d told Emily, I enter a hidden passageway and start towards a room I know as the ‘plotting cave’. Yeah, original, I know. I didn’t come up with it; the privilege of naming the room remains with its occupant.

Reaching the final few steps, I push open the door and dump myself and my bag onto the worn couch. “Peeves!” I yell when I’m settled.

I’m greeted by laughter as Peeves floats through the wall on my left. He grins at me, and I feel myself return the expression. I met Peeves on my first day of lessons at Hogwarts. He had decided it would be fun to annoy the first year Hufflepuffs on their way to Transfiguration, distracted by his fun he would have been caught by Professor McGonagall had I not ‘fainted,’ giving him a wink as he shot away. Since then we’ve been plotting and planning how to cause trouble, we make quite the pair.

“I need help” I state, snapping out of my reverie “Potter has been getting on my nerves and, as I understand it, you have a hatred for the boy.”

His gleeful expression is all I need to know he’s in. “What did you have in mind?”

\----------

“What’re you up to?” Emily demands. We’re lounging in front of the fire in the Hufflepuff common room, me enjoying the chatter of the boys and the twins cramming for the potions exam scheduled for tomorrow morning. How they can force themselves to do work on a Sunday, I have no idea, and apparently neither do the boys as I haven’t seen them lift a textbook or quill all day. 

“What?” I ask, genuinely shocked Em has noticed anything other than the pile of work in front of her. She is devoted enough to be a Ravenclaw, but a better friend than any so I’m not surprised she was picked for Hufflepuff.

“You haven’t pranked anyone all week and it’s scaring me” she spits out. Wow. She really is worried.

“Wait, I thought you got that group of Slytherins on Monday?” Joey asks, referring to the boys I’d scared away from the Gryffindor first year, Jess.

“Yeah, but that wasn’t premeditated, doesn’t count” I explain.

“So if I killed Joey right now, it wouldn’t class as murder?” Mark butts in.

“Well, yes it would, cause it is premeditated, cause you just thought about it” I reply, enjoying Joey’s offended expression as he sat up from his spot in front of the fireplace.

“Right here guys!” he whines, “seriously, why kill me? What about Leon?” 

“ _I’m_ not blocking the fire with my big fat arse” Leon taunts, earning a grin from myself and Mark.

“Excuse me, my arse is not big or fat, it is gorgeous” Joey states.

“Of course it is honey,” I coo at him, causing him to smile and wink at me before I add “now move ‘cause that gorgeous arse is blocking the heat.” 

Before I can even blink Joey rolls forwards, grabs my hand, and yanks me off my position on the sofa to land in his lap on the floor. “There, now you’re warm _and_ you get to sit with me and my arse.”

Emily interrupts our laughter by shouting “really, none of you are worried about this?”

“Why should you be?” I ask, squirming into a more comfortable position on Joeys lap as he chuckles. I honestly don’t mind sitting on him; we’re close enough not to feel awkward about being so close, and also this way I’m closer to the fire. “Maybe I’ve stopped my mischievous ways and decided that studying is a better use of my time.”

“Or maybe you’ve been sneaking into the library every night to find a spell in the restricted section to use on Potter” she throws right back.

“You followed me?” I blurt, shock getting the better of me. I’d been so sneaky.

“No, but that’s as good as an admission of guilt for me.” Ah shit. She has me there.

“Okay, fine, I’ve been plotting revenge. How’d you guess?” 

“I just know you that well. I can see Potter’s been annoying you, following you around everywhere, apologising, agreeing with everything you say; it makes sense for you to want revenge.” 

“Potter’s been following you?” Mark asks, leaning forward in his seat to look at me.

“What’s he apologising for?” I hear Joey inquire from behind me as he wraps his arms around my waist in a protective kind of way. I have some pretty good friends.

“Yeah, he asked about Daniel in potions after I switched seats with Evans and I’m not sure he liked what he heard” at the sound of my brother’s name the arms around my waist tighten again and I lean back into them, I’m not ashamed to admit I need the help. Just talking about him brings tears to my eyes. “He’s been apologising non-stop and it’s annoying as hell, so me and Peeves found a way to keep him away from me.”

“Peeves?!” Emily bursts out, turning red. She never has likes the poltergeist.

“Honestly, what is your problem with him? He never pranks you; you’re the only prefect he leaves alone.”

“Only ‘cause he’s friends with you” she replies, now oblivious to the workload in front of her.

“So? He’s a good guy really. Now, that essay isn’t gonna write itself.”

“Oh!” she exclaims. Easiest way to get Emily off your back; remind her she has homework. Recognising the technique I hear chuckles run through my circle of friends as she begins scrawling words down onto her page.

“So what horror is Potter facing then?” Mark asks, bringing a slightly evil grin to my face.

“You’ll see tomorrow.”

\----------

After struggling out of bed, having two cups of tea for breakfast and completing my homework last minute (again) I arrive in Slughorn’s classroom to find Lily sitting in my usual seat. With Leon in tow, I head over to her. “Hey Lily, are you just avoiding Potter or has Slughorn switched us over again?” I ask.

“Oh, hey Jem” she starts, guiltily, guess I was right the first time. “Listen, I know you guys are friends and all but Potter always distracts me in this lesson, I’m just sick of it, I thought he’d leave you alone so it’d be okay to trade seats, but if you want me-”

“Lily, stop rambling” I interrupt with a slight chuckle. “I don’t mind swapping, just do me a favour in return and help out Leon? You’re top in the class, and I recon he’d get better with you tutoring him.”

“But, Leon’s good, he usually gets the same grades as you, and you’re really good” she says, clearly confused.

“Yeah, well, it’s easy to get the same marks when the vials are filled with the same potion” I hear a voice say from behind me. “Oh look at that, you jumped again! Am I still just scary or have I been promoted yet?” 

“Sirius, piss off” I say, unwilling to admit his comment was actually deserving of a laugh. His chuckle is drowned out by Lily’s shocked reply.

“You mean, you cheat?!” 

“I guess you’ll see why we have to today, with you sitting next to me” Leon says, taking his seat then turning to look at me, “good luck with Potter, Jem.”

“Good luck not exploding, Leon” I throw back with a smile, all the while being tugged along to my seat by Sirius.

Looking at my new table I realise the absence of one annoying boy who should be sitting in the seat next to mine. I worked too hard on that prank to have Potter ruin it by not showing up. Maybe I performed the charm wrong. Maybe he’s unconscious somewhere. Maybe-

“Do not fear! For I am here!” I hear James bellow across the room as he slams the door closed, to add dramatic effect I assume. Guess he isn’t dead after all.

“Evans! Don’t you want to sit with me, love?” he continues, getting closer to me as he crosses the room. Just a few more steps and he’ll be in range. 

“Potter, please sit down so we can begin” Slughorn complains.

“Of course, your honour” he booms, finishing with a low bow in the professor’s direction, “my deepest sympathies.”

“Yes, yes, just sit down my boy.” 

Sirius’s bark of laughter is cut off by a girly shriek that emits itself from Potters mouth just as he is about to walk past me. The shriek continues, getting higher in pitch as he flails around, apparently just as confused as everyone else in the room at the sudden screaming, but more importantly, not nearly as amused. By the time James reaches his seat everyone in the room is in hysterics, clutching their tables trying not to fall over laughing as tears stream down their faces. Even Sluggy looks about ready to boom out a laugh. Taking pity on Potter’s flailing form I take a few steps away from him and the shrieking is suddenly cut off. 

“What the hell?!” he screams, finally able to speak again. He looks frantically around the room, trying to spot the person responsible. I consider it a blessing when he doesn’t even glance at me, he may have noticed me now, but my invisibility apparently still extends to cover over my mischievous ways. Or it does for Potter anyway.

My eyes meet Leon’s from across the room and, upon seeing his raised eyebrow I nod slightly. Before we can stop ourselves we both fall back into barely controlled laughter as Potter and Sluggy try to find out who cast the spell. When Potter steps too close to me he once again breaks into girly screams and I struggle to keep in my laughter. 

“Whoever is doing that, would you please stop, I’m trying to teach a class!” Sluggy exclaims. Well I’m not about to hand myself in so I take a small step away from Potter and he stops screaming again. 

“Thank you, now, let’s get on” 

“Wait! Aren’t you going to give a detention to the person who cursed me?” James shouts, clearly outraged.

“I would but I’ve no idea who it is, and neither do you, so just forget about it.”

“I know who it was” Sirius states, stepping between the arguing pair. Shit, I’d forgotten about him. But how could he know? I cast the charm last night, not anytime in class, so there was no way he’d seen me charm him. Unless he noticed that potter only started to scream when he was within two meters of me? Whatever the reason, I’m in trouble. 

“And who would that be, Black?” Slughorn asks, clearly expecting it to have been Sirius. Unsurprising really, I bet every person in this room, except Black, Leon and myself, thought it was him. Plan.

“It was Sirius sir, I saw him with his wand” I say, trying my best to look like an honest little Hufflepuff. 

“No, it wasn’t!” Black shouts.

“Professor, sir, I wouldn’t lie”

“Yes, Miss East, I believe you, don’t you worry. Ten points to Hufflepuff for your honesty. For you Black, a detention and ten points from Gryffindor, for disrupting my class” Sluggy snaps out. “Now sit down so we can start!”

When Sirius catches my eye with a glare I wink at him. And again my motto proves to be correct. Blame the marauders. Or in this case just one marauder.

When I plonk myself into my seat I just about jump out of my skin when Slughorn shouts “Sirius Black” over the restarted shrieking of the boy next to me. Oops. 

\----------

Sitting in the common room at the end of the day, surrounded by my friends, I let myself feel proud of my day of payback. I had planned to only prank Potter but, as it turns out, you can’t do that without causing problems for the group of boys nicknamed the marauders.

“Successful day, Jem?” Leon asks me.

“I’d say so, yeah” I reply, grinning.

“I heard you got Sirius four detentions and lost him thirty points.” True, it earned me quite a few glares from him who seems to be the only one, other than my friends, to work out I cast the spell. 

“Yup, and he ain’t pleased about it either.”

“Does he know it was you?” Emily jumps in, worried I might get caught.

“Yeah, I think so, but don’t worry, no one in their right mind would believe him, it’d just sound like he was trying to cover for himself.”

“But if he was covering for himself, wouldn’t he pick a more believable target?” she argues.

“Huh, I didn’t think of that” I admit, if he chose to tell someone, and told them that, there is a small possibility he’d be believed. “But he isn’t a snitch; he’ll probably just try to get me back for it.”

“What?!” Oh, shit. That was the worst thing to say.

“Don’t worry, Em, I’ll be fine.”

“Yeah, no one pranks better than our Jem” Mark says, making me smile. It’s a weird thing to be proud of, I know, but it is a kind of talent. I could be a spy after school, I have enough practice sneaking around and being good at magic can’t hurt either. Better than having some boring desk job in the ministry. 

“Yeah!” Leon agrees, bringing my attention back to my circle of friends “you should have seen her in transfiguration, McGonagall didn’t know the counter curse and had to send Lupin to the library for the rest of the day to find it, Pettigrew was lost without his mate’s help and got a ton of homework.”

“It’s like she pranked them all with one spell, brilliant” Mark adds. I could totally be a spy.

“But still, it’s four against one now, what will you do?” 

With a slightly evil grin I say, “prank war.”

“No.” Emily states, voice flat. There really is no point arguing against her when she uses that tone, but I have to try. A prank war! That would be so fun, Peeves would be over the moon.

“Aw, but Em, please” I beg, pouting.

“No, you got your revenge, that’s it.”

“But what if they try to get me back?” 

“Then you can tell me and I’ll give them a detention, but don’t retaliate.”

“But-”

“Jem, please, I want you to do this for me.” Now, I am a lot of things. I am smart, confident, devious, sarcastic, flirty and even a little sassy, but more than any of those things, I am a Hufflepuff. And I’m a good friend.

“Okay, I promise.” I say with a sigh, I can’t believe I’m gonna miss out on this one. “But you have to let me prank other people still, or I’ll get cranky, and I’ll annoy you so much you’ll hate me forever and ever and ever and ever and-”

“Okay! I get the point!” Em interrupts, “But you can’t prank the Marauders, I don’t want to scrape you off the floor cause you got caught by a nasty curse. Deal?”

“Deal, love you Em” I say sweetly.

“Yeah, you too, now do your homework.”

“What?! But I was going to the kitchens to grab a cup of tea!” Well, I wasn’t, but homework? No way.

“Fine, but you have to do it when you get back” she says.

With an annoyed groan I stand up from the sofa and head to the door to leave the common room, refusing Mark’s offer to come with me, which I think is probably just him trying to avoid his homework too. 

Thanks to one of our great founders, Helga Hufflepuff, my common room was placed a short walk from the kitchens, something I am immensely grateful for. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t eat mountains or anything, but I drink a _lot_ of tea, so having it nearby is helpful, and knowing the passageway that halves the distance isn’t that bad either.

Careful not to get caught out of bed late, I slip down the stairs to the kitchens, following the scent of baking bread. When I reach the last stair I topple back from the weight of one house elf that has thrown herself at me in a hug, her arms tight around my shoulders. 

“Hey Puddle” I say, hugging her back then setting her down on the ground again.

“Miss Jemima, Puddle has missed you” she squeaks out, her orb like eyes shining with joy, making me grin. I really love Puddle.

“And Miss Jemima has missed you too, sorry I wasn’t down this weekend, got distracted by a prank.” I apologise while taking her hand and walking to a table to sit with her.

“Who did you prank, Miss” she asks, Puddle has always loved to be mischievous, but you don’t get to do much, being a house elf, so I try to include her in planning my pranks, and I always tell her about them.

“A Gryffindor, boy called James Potter, I used a long lasting charm that only affected him when he was within two metres of me, made him shriek like a little girl.” I say, liking the way Puddle’s face lights up, hearing the story.

“Wow, that’s very clever Miss, Master Daniel would be impressed.” 

“Are you kidding?” I blurt, “He’d be furious! I caused so many distractions in lessons.” Puddle is the only person I can talk to about my brother without bursting into tears, with her it feels like he never died at all, like he’s just away for a while. That’s why I can bare to hear her call me Jemima; it feels like it’s him saying it. It feels like home. 

“That is true Miss, but it’s still an impressive trick, he’d probably-”

I don’t get to hear what Puddle wanted to say as her small voice is drowned out by a shriek from behind me. Before I can even think, I’ve taken up a protective stance in front of Puddle and my wand is pointed at… thin air. I didn’t imagine that scream, I’m not that tired, someone’s here.

“Well, two can play at that game” I mutter, hugging Puddle against my leg I focus my wand’s energy back towards myself and mutter incantations under my breath, ignoring the suffocating feeling of the spell as a protective bubble surrounds me, blending Puddle’s and my body into the colours of the table behind us, creating the look of invisibility. Or so I hope, I’ve never actually tried this spell before, and it’s ridiculously advanced. 

“Holy shit” I hear a voice breathe, then two boys I recognise appear in front of me, far enough away that one of them doesn’t scream again. Potter and Black. I should have known.

“I assume from your impression of a three year old having a tantrum you’ve found the girl” I hear Lupin say as he hops down the stairs and appears in the room, Pettigrew just behind him. “Where is she?” he adds, noticing my absence.

“Well she was there, but now she’s-” 

“Gone” Sirius finishes for Potter, staring through me in disbelief.

“How the hell did she do that?” Potter asks, clearly in shock.

“Do what?” Peter squeaks out.

“Disappear” James and Sirius say together. 

“Was she with a house elf? Cause they can apparate” Remus says, reaching into his pocket and pulling out a piece of parchment. I lean down to whisper to Puddle to take me back to my dorm but the parchment in Remus’s hand looks like it’s _moving_. “Let’s see if we can find her, shall we boys?” Crap. Crap, crap, crap.

“I think we shall” Potter replies, shaking himself out of his stupor to take the parchment and lay it on the table. Leaning forwards slightly, still trying to hold the bubble around me in place, I glance at the parchment and almost topple over in shock. A map! How did I never think of that? And it looks like they’ve found passageways even I don’t know about. And markings for people! Impressive. And inconvenient for me right now.

“Boys, I’ve found her” Sirius says, glancing up from the map to look through me again.

“What? Where?” Potter says; searching the area Sirius was just looking at before adding “Oh, well that’s impressive. She’s here.”

“What? No she isn’t” Peter, says obnoxiously, sure his friends are wrong and he’s right.

Remus, who turns around in his chair to look at my spot says “the map is never wrong, Wormtail.”

Feeling my energy ebbing away, and knowing I may need it for a more offensive reason soon, I lower my wand and drop the bubble. “Nice map” I say, half appreciative of the complex magic, and half annoyed I hadn’t thought of it first.

“Thanks” Lupin says, eyeing my wand cautiously, “Nice trick, what spell was that?”

“Trade secret, sorry” I say, just as guarded as him. After all, I am outnumbered. 

“You, you were invisible!” Peter stutters, “you have a cloak too?”

“You have an invisibility cloak? That’s cool” No wonder they snuck up on me. Cheats.

“Wormtail! You idiot!” Sirius shouts, the bark makes me tighten my grip on Puddle, I want her safe.

“What? She has one too, obviously.”

“No, I don’t actually” I say, feeling a tad smug.

“Liar” he spits at me. Gross.

“Don’t you call Miss Jemima a liar!” I hear Puddle’s voice shout as she pushes her way in front of me.

“I’ll call _Miss Jemima_ anything I want, now scram!” he shouts and before I can stop myself my hand brings itself full force across his weasel like face, hard enough to make his beady eyes fill up with tears. 

“Don’t you _dare_ talk to her like that” I spit out, my hands bunched into fists at my sides.

I’m dragged away from Peter and pushed onto a bench by Sirius and Remus who then take positions either side of me, whether to threaten me or to protect Peter I can’t decide.

“People don’t hurt my friends” I hear Black growl from my left and I look boldly back.

“Nor do they insult mine” I shoot back.

“You’re friends with a house elf?” Lupin asks in a much kinder voice.

“Yeah, she’s my elf, is that okay with you?” I ask, thoroughly pissed off. All I wanted was a cup of tea and a chat, and I end up in some miniature war. 

“Please leave Miss Jemima, sirs, she’s just tired, please sirs” I hear a squeak from a few steps away, it just about breaks my heart and I open my arms towards her, wanting to have her near me. She climbs into my lap without hesitation and I begin stroking her head to sooth her. 

“Why does she call you that? I thought you didn’t like it?” Potter asks in a slightly guilty voice, nervous to bring it up I’d guess.

“She was my brother’s elf, I’d never tell her to call me anything else” I say, still holding Puddle to my chest.

“What happened to him?” Remus asks, making me tear up. Don’t cry in front of them, I tell myself. 

“He was killed” I say shortly, not letting my thoughts linger on it. Time to be brave.

James steps forward to rest a hand on my shoulder but before he can reach me he screams and falls backwards onto Peter, knocking him flat on his back and making everyone but him burst into laughter. Even Puddle.

“How? Just how?” Remus asks me, his eyes alight. “I’ve been in the library since third period, thanks for that by the way, and found nothing.”

“I’m not surprised, I combined two spells to create it, it’s basically a long lasting version of the singing charm with a higher frequency and a trigger charm so it’s controlled to work only within two meters of me, the caster.” I explain to him, knowing he’ll understand it, being skilled in charms.

“Ingenious” he breathes and I feel myself blush a little. No one has said that kind of thing to me, not since Daniel. “But, if it’s long lasting, how do you cancel out the affects?” 

I consider lying to him, I could leave the charm on, but I had promised to calm things down with this group so I try to order my explanation into an understandable sentence.

“Well, I put a weak point into the spell, so I could stop it when I wanted to. Basically, the closer he gets to me, the louder he’ll scream, if he actually touches me though, the frequency gets so high he can’t hold it, so it shorts out. That means the spell has broken and wont restart unless its recast.”

“What?” James asks but I ignore him.

“Look” I hoist Puddle onto my hip as I stand up to walk toward Potter, cradling her against my side as I would a toddler. He quickly begins screaming but I keep walking towards him and place my hand onto his shoulder, when I make contact with his skin there the screaming cuts itself off and he clutches at his throat in surprise.

“Thanks” he croaks out.

“No bother” I reply, turning away from the four boys and heading towards the exit. 

“Wait!” Sirius shouts to my retreating form, sounding annoyed, but I ignore him. I want to go to sleep.

I sense the spell before he’s even cast it and spin around, wand in hand to meet him with the counter curse in an instant. 

“I wouldn’t if I was you, I know how to duel, and you haven’t got a chance, so just don’t” I say slowly, lacing my voice with a threatening tone.

His scowl made his handsome face the closest to ugly it could be, which, if I’m honest, wasn’t very close. The annoying ones were always the hottest. Sad really.

“I was right, feisty. You could be a Gryffindor” he says, with a hint of a smirk.

“Yeah, that’s what the hat said” I admit “and I bet it told you you’d make a good Hufflepuff.”

“How did you?-”he starts. Guess I was right.

“You’re loyal to your friends. That’s a Hufflepuff quality. The house qualities merge a lot more than you’d think, I’m brave cause I want to protect my friends. Weird right. Now can I leave without another curse being thrown at my back? Cause invisibility charms are tiring and I want to sleep.”

“Yeah, but you can expect to see us again.” He says with a lazy grin. 

“We’d like to see what other spells that brain of yours can come up with, it could be useful in our plotting” Potter adds.

“Brilliant” I say, deadpan. As I climb the stairs out of the kitchens, Puddle sleeping on my hip, I hear their laughs echo around me and realise I may not want to be invisible anymore. Causing trouble sounds like more fun.


	3. Visible

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Being betrayed is difficult, especially when it's accidental, cause then they're harder to blame.

When my eyes peel open and swing towards my alarm clock I wince at the time it displays. Six am. Can you even _imagine_ a more painful time? Didn’t think so. As I shrink back under my covers I register a slight weight on my feet and shoot up in bed only to find Puddle curled up at the foot of my bed. At the sight of her all memories of last night come flooding back to me, painful fast, and I groan. This is so not the time for reliving that but now it’s in my head there’s really no getting rid of it, so I swing my legs over the side of the bed, careful not to wake Puddle, and trudge into the bathroom, feet dragging behind me the whole way. 

I’m dressed and ready within half an hour and decide the best thing to do is get a cup of tea from the great hall and think things over. I write a short note to Puddle explaining where I’m going and promising to visit her soon and head out of the room, already fixated on the prospect of tea, so fixated apparently that I nearly miss the lounging form on the couch in the common room, hands tucked under his shaggy head of hair in a way that radiates arrogance and charm. 

“Good morning, Sunshine” his voice drawls out, managing to sound charming and sarcastic and patronising all at the same time. _Why_ did he have to be hot? 

“No” I say, as I walk past him, not even stopping to ask how the hell a Gryffindor found his way into the Hufflepuff common room, I can’t be bothered for any of that crap. I want to drink tea, and grumble about the time. 

“Good to see someone is as much of a morning person as me” he says as he rolls himself of the couch in one smooth movement and starts to follow me. I don’t even glance at him as I step through the door leading out of the common room, some hot people are better ignored, and Sirius Black is definitely one of them. 

I hear his padding feet behind me as I turn corner after corner, and as hard as I try, I just can’t ignore his presence. Honestly, annoying me at any time is dangerous, doing it before seven in the morning is fatal, and he is stepping awfully close to his own grave. Distracted by my murderous thoughts I almost storm into another boy I _really_ don’t want to see. Despite my growing anger I force my face to show a bored expression as James Potter grins at me.

“Only you could look so beautiful so early on this fine day, Darling.” 

“No” I say, and storm past him. These boys are playing a _very_ dangerous game, one they may not survive.

Continuing my walk, determinedly ignoring my companions, who are apparently content to trail my progress through the hallways, I slip into a side passage way to lose them and realise my mistake too late. These boys know the passages too; maybe even better than me, I won’t lose them in here. Even so, I take a long route, turning corners and ascending stairs until I know I’ve earned ten burgers from exercise. But still I can hear their footsteps, infuriatingly loud. I refuse to speed up my pace, to let them know they’re getting to me and take the next exit out of the passages only to run into a third unwanted face. The most repulsive yet too; Peter Pettigrew. 

“Hey-” is all he gets out before I practically growl out my “no.”

They planned this with that bloody map of theirs. Filthy cheaters! I work so hard to shake my tail and end up adding to it! Well, someone is going to die now, that wasn’t fair. But how can I kill someone I promised not to hurt? Answer; I can’t. And I can’t break a promise to a friend either, so instead of committing murder I grit my teeth and storm onwards, trying to still my shaking nerves, and I’m doing well, until I round the next corner to hear Remus Lupin call out his, no doubt rehearsed, greeting.

“Morning, Sweet, I found us a table.”

“No.” 

“But, Jelly Bean, you can’t expect us to sit on the cold floor” Potter calls from behind me, catching up fast now I’ve stopped walking to face the boy blocking the doors to the great hall.

“Yeah, Pancake, what if you were to get ill?” Lupin gets out, linking his arm with mine as he looks down at me with mock concern. Should have worn heels, stupid, tall boys. 

“Then I’d have to nurse her back to health, wouldn’t I, Cupcake?” Black sings, taking up my other arm just before I can reach for my wand. Clever dickhead.

“Come on, Baby, let’s sit down” Potter says to me, but it works as a command for the two boys holding onto my arms to start walking me to the spot I usually sit at for meals. I try not to wonder how they know where I sit, probably just coincidence. 

“No.” I say, putting as much menace into the word as I can muster; which at this time of the morning, is a lot, but only Peter shows a flicker of fear, the others simply grin more.

“Don’t be so silly, Poppet” Sirius says, releasing my arm and sending a look towards Lupin, which I can’t translate into real words. When he lets go of my arm too I get confused and before I can run strong arms are around my small waist, lifting me into the air and setting me on the chair. I growl at Sirius but he keeps one arm wrapped around me, pulling me closer, and enjoying my anger by the looks of things. 

The arm around my waist keeps me tethered to my seat as the other boys take their positions at the table; Lupin on my left, and Peter and James in front of me. All I have to do is wait until they drop their guard, then I can bolt, but going by the gleam in the eyes of the idiots around me, I can pretty much assume they won’t let me get anywhere near the doors, never mind to the safety of my bedroom, so I stay seated, and pour myself a cup of tea.

“At a girl, Sweetums” Potter croons, helping himself to the platters of food in front of him, cueing the other boys to do the same thing. 

“What do you want?” I grind out, addressing Potter, knowing he leads the group.

“She speaks!”Lupin shouts between bites of toast. How is this the only response I get? The boys go back to eating and I sit, steaming away, wondering what the hell is going on. I pranked James, yeah, but I also removed the spell, and kind of apologised. How do I deserve this? 

The next half hour passes with me in stony silence while the boys chat casually, occasionally giving me some sickly sweet compliment and tagging on one of those terms of endearment at the end just to hear me growl, all the while, Black’s arm doesn’t waver once in its pressure, and I keep noticing myself leaning more and more into him, just to pull away abruptly and see his half smirk from the corner of my eye. That smirk is enough to earn a throttle, and I am just about to oblige when the hall fills up with my friends, who all stop dead when they notice who I’m with.

Em shouts, loud enough to echo across the hall as she storms towards my table, grabbing the full attention of all the students and teachers in the hall who were already intrigued enough by the famous Gryffindor’s new seats. “Jem! You promised not to prank them!”

My head hits the table with a loud thud. Why? Why me?

“She what?” I can almost feel the grins spread across the faces of the boys as Sirius questions my blind, slow friend.

“She promised not to-” She begins slowly, trying to understand the five people before her. Four of them with faces alight with glee and the other repeatedly banging her head against the table. That’s me, by the way. Not even caring if I get brain damage. 

“Oops” she says, finally catching on, and I lift my face to stare at her guilty face through my hair.

“Yeah, oops” I reply, not daring to look at any face other than hers, not the teachers, not the students and not the boys. Why bother when I already know what I’ll find there?

\----------

Let me walk you through my day. And if you laugh at me, I will kill you. 

Word spread fast that I am a skilled prankster, and the results were really not good. First off, teachers treated me with extreme caution, by which I mean they glared at me all day, and refused to let me anywhere near the four grinning Gryffindor boys, which is difficult to do when those same boys seemed to want nothing more than to follow me from class to class, spilling my ink, ruining my work and ultimately pissing me off. And they knew I couldn’t fight back, because I’m a Hufflepuff and I made a promise. Stupid, annoying loyalty.

Secondly, students started to notice me. Which, I get, some people love, but after being practically invisible for my entire life to suddenly being the topic of all conversations, the transition was a bit shocking. And I really don’t like it. Apparently being the ‘hot rebel Hufflepuff’ attracts male attention, and the amount of times I’ve been asked out on a date today is enough to make Morgana blush. Not that I did; I was too busy steaming away at the boys, thoroughly enjoying my pain. They deserve every time I’ve ever framed them for a prank, every detention they’ve ever gained from my lies. But they don’t seem to see it that way. And so I’ve been struggling away all day. 

You’re right to feel bad for me. No one else does.

Emily spent today repeating ‘I told you so’ with a smug look on her face; to her I’ve finally been reprimanded for all my evil doings. Carly had fun discussing my ‘new dating options’ and by discussing, I do mean just talking to herself, cause I wasn’t listening, too busy distracted by Mark, Leon and Joey’s permanent scowl at my new attention. Apparently no one is good enough for me and they like to scare off anyone who gets too close to their precious Jem.

So not a good day.

“THERE’S MY LOVE!” shouts a voice from across the hall and I cringe into my seat in response. I just wanted to eat my pasta and leave, and now Sirius Black is striding towards me, grin plastered across his face and mischief glinting in his eyes.

“I really, _really_ hate you” I spit at him, venom present in every syllable.

“Don’t be so silly, diamond” he tuts, “let’s go, the boys are waiting.” He motions over his shoulder towards his three friends waiting by the doors, grinning at me.

“No thanks, I’m good” I say, staring at my half eaten plate of food, “still eating, maybe another time.”

“Ha! You haven’t touched that in twenty minutes, let’s go, Flower.”

“She said no, Black” Mark spits out.

“Get lost” Joey says, placing a hand on my shoulder. As if sensing the threat three extra bodies appear behind Sirius, all of which grinning in a frightening way. A warning.

“Problem?” Potter asks sweetly.

Before my friends can cause any trouble I just say “no” and force some now cold pasta into my mouth.

“Perfect” Black grins and winks at his friends before continuing to say “let’s go then, Pumpkin,” wrapping his arms around me, lifting me up in the way a husband would carry his wife and walking briskly from the hall, my friends shouts following our exit.

“Better run” Lupin says, nodding his head towards my angry friends. 

“Good idea” Potter agrees, leading the way down hall after hall, passageway after passageway, until we finally end up outside an ugly portrait of a fat lady. Being the spy that I am, I easily recognise the entrance to the Gryffindor common room and begin to squirm in Black’s strong arms. Putting me in there is like throwing me to the dogs, especially after today.

“Ha! She knows!” Lupin exclaims, noticing my reaction.

“Of course I know, idiot” I growl back, cruel boys.

“Peppermint tea” Sirius tells the woman in the portrait and she looks ruefully at him.

“Sorry hunny, password changed.”

“What?” Lupin asks, no wonder he’s shocked, he’s a prefect and he doesn’t even know it.

“It changed; you can’t come in without the password.”

“Shit!”

“Guess it” 

“Marshmallows”

“Buttons”

“Stars”

“Mackerel”

“Fish!”

“For god sake! It’s Angelico!” I shout, if only to shut up the rising shouts around me. I realise my mistake, shortly afterwards. 

“How did you-” Lupin starts, utterly confused.

“I really love this woman” Sirius grins, carrying me through the door into the room I’ve only explored at night. Let’s leave it at this; it’s _covered_ in Gryffindor colours. Red and gold plaster the walls, decorations everywhere; it makes my common room look calm. And that’s _yellow_. “She’s just as sneaky as us!”

“Yeah, and regretting it” I mutter, causing Sirius to bark a laugh.

The common room is packed, explaining why there were so little Gryffindors in the great hall before, and all of them are looking at me. Embarrassed to be stared at whilst in the arms of one of their house heroes, I hide my face by tucking it in the crook of his shoulder and I can feel his answering chuckle. 

“I hate you” I groan, earning yet another shaking laugh, only this time the other boys join in.

I feel Sirius carry me across the room and hear shuffling as some people vacate what I assume is a sitting area, and judging by the sudden warmth, it must be in front of a fire. I stay in my curled up position on his lap for a long time, refusing to acknowledge their taunts.

I lift my head from Sirius’ shoulder only when the noise of the common room dies down, and the only words I can decipher are coming from either the boy holding me in his lap, or his friends spread around us. Embarrassed by my reaction upon entering the room, I lift my head at a snail’s pace, not wanting to gain any more attention; I’ve had enough of that today. 

It doesn’t work.

“Morning, Kitten” Sirius whispers at me, successfully avoiding letting the others know I’m moving again.

“Don’t be stupid, I wasn’t asleep” I whisper back, glad not to have the whole group’s attention.

“You snored.”

“I did not!” I whisper loudly, if that’s even possible, but the other bodies around us don’t move much, and I can’t see them all that well anyway, my head still pretty much burrowed into Sirius’ hair, I’d move if I weren’t so comfy.

“Quiet, you’ll wake the others” he says, his breathy laughs stirring my hair.

“I don’t snore” I say, lifting my head to look him in the eye. He looks kind of crumpled, like he’s been asleep, how long have I been up here?

“I know, but my friends do” as though to prove his point, Peter starts up snoring from his curled up position underneath the coffee table. Gross.

I can’t have been asleep. That’s ridiculous. But now the only people in the common room are us five, and that backs up Sirius. Not me.

Unable to take the uncertainty I grab my wand from my pocket and mutter out the sun seeking spell, and to my horror, its results don’t support me either. 

“Shit” I breathe, and because I’m a Hufflepuff, because I feel bad, I turn to look at Sirius again. “Sorry, for sleeping on you, if must have been uncomfortable.”

“Not at all, Love, sleeping with beautiful women is my forte” he says, a smirk I can only describe as flirtatious, lighting up his face, just as mine tinges red.

“Cute” I say, voice breathy from just waking up or being stared at, I don’t know, but it makes his dark eyes gleam, whatever the reason. That’s one thing I’d never really noticed before. Every guy I’ve dated in the past has had interesting eyes; last year I dated a Ravenclaw with eyes bluer than any I’d ever seen before, I could swim in his eyes, but the dark pools staring at me now have his beat. I can’t swim in them, I’m too busy drowning. I realise I’m staring at him but I don’t look away. I don’t even blink. Still drowning.

Peter brings me back to the world with a hulking snore, snapping me out of my trance, and I allow air to flow back into my lungs as I take a huge breath. Muttering an awkward goodbye, I force myself to stand from Sirius’ lap and head towards the portrait to leave, stopping only when I hear his question. But his voice doesn’t come from the couch where I left him, it comes from right behind me, and that makes me jump big time.

“How did you know our password before we did?” 

I turn slowly to look up at him, getting lost in those eyes again. Cause that wasn’t the stupidest idea ever. Idiot. After almost a minute of silent staring I realise I should probably answer his question and go. 

I could tell him. But I won’t.

“I have a friend who is dead good at snooping” I say. Puns never do get old, and this one would have a certain poltergeist tumbling through the air laughing. One I have to thank for keeping me updated on passwords.

“Care to introduce me?” he asks, no doubt wanting to gain some very useful information.

“I really don’t think he’d like you” I say, grinning. I can only imagine how that introduction would go, considering Peeves isn’t exactly civil to the student population, excluding me of course.

“He?” Is he seriously trying to narrow this down with gender? It doesn’t really lessen the possibilities by much. 

“Yeah, he” I confirm, and a glint comes into his eye, one I’ve only ever seen once, in the blue eyes I was so fond of.

“Something wrong?” I ask him, the same question I asked my blue eyed Ravenclaw last year. 

We were sitting at my house table for lunch when Mark had come running in, his face split into the biggest smile I’d ever seen him wear. He bolted to me, lifted my clean off the bench and spun me round, hugging me close the whole time. I’d been confused but happy none the less, when he told me he’d been made quidditch captain, I beamed at him, kissed his cheek, and he’d ran off to find the boys. Gone as quickly as he’d come. I’d then turned around to finish my meal and had the conversation I seem to be repeating now. As though it didn’t suck enough the first time.

“No, nothing” he says, clearly meaning the opposite. Exactly the same as last time, only this time, I’m going to find out what that damn glint means.

“Stop that, the hell is wrong with you? You we’re fine two minutes ago!”

“Nothing’s wrong with me, I just didn’t realise you had quite so many guy friends I don’t know.”

“It’s one guy and why would you know everyone I know? I’ve been invisible to you practically the whole time at this school!” 

“Yeah, well, I can see you now!” he shouts. Yeah, _shouts_. Probably why three boys are now flanking the raging teen, instead of sleeping on the floor, snoring.

I watch as Sirius storms away from me, snarling at his friends as he passes, then marches up the stairs. Only when he’s gone do I turn to his smirking friends. 

“I don’t understand” I admit, maybe they do.

“He’s jealous” Lupin says, staring at me, then glancing to the dormitory Sirius disappeared into.

“What?” I ask, no, he isn’t jealous. He’s the heart throb of Hogwarts! The only people girls choose over him are Lupin (who never stays with a girl longer than two weeks) and Potter (who has been after Lily since first year) so really he has no competition.

“He just met the perfect girl for him and then she starts talking about a guy, who also pranks by the sounds of it, is he supposed to feel any other way?” Stupid Potter, making good points.

“What makes you think I’m perfect for him?” I ask, pointing out the only flaw. I’m no one.

“You’re beautiful.” – Remus.

“You’re funny.” – James.

“You prank.” – Peter.

“And you’re loyal, which is more important to him than anything.” James finishes, and there’s something sad in his voice that makes me want to run to Sirius and tell him I was talking about Peeves, and ask why loyalty counts so much for him.

“Who” I start, choking up a little, for a boy I only just started to care about, “who betrayed him?”

“I guess we missed out smart” Lupin says, voice sombre.

“And kind” Pettigrew adds.

“That’s his story to tell, but you have to have wondered what happened for a Black to be sorted into Gryffindor?” Potter says. And I did, everyone did. I just didn’t realise the reason for it was so dark. 

“Can you tell him” I pause, looking at the boys around me, they aren’t my boys, but they might just become that, “tell him that the guy I mentioned is a particularly mischievous poltergeist, who goes by the name Peeves, and I’d love to introduce them sometime. That is, if he’s not afraid of getting things thrown at him. A lot.”

Their shocked faces make me feel a little smug as I turn and leave the room, walking all the way back to my bed, across the castle, thinking it wasn’t that bad a day after all.


	4. Wolf

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Nothing ever seems to go to plan for me, it'd really not fair.

I value sleep, and I am not a morning person. These two things generally mean I don’t like sleeping for three hours and being woken up at seven am just to be dragged to lessons I don’t like anyway. But do my friends care about this? No, of course not. At least Emily and Carly don’t pin my irritableness on my late night abduction by the Gryffindor boys, they just assume I’m tired from general late-night evildoings, so I’m safe from interrogations for now. 

Honestly, even if they do question me I don’t know what I’ll say. That Sirius Black might be interested in me? Or that I might actually like him back? I’ve only been experiencing this crap for one morning and I’m sick of it already. I guess I’ll just leave it for the gods to decide or something like that. Maybe I can convince Carls to read my tea leaves or palm, she’s freaky good at Divination, way better than anyone else in our year. Too bad I don’t believe in fate. 

“Miss East could you please repeat what I just told you? Or were you to busy day dreaming to listen?” For god sake! I wish I could go back to being invisible; being noticed is so much hassle. Well, if poor prof thinks I’m such a horrible distraction, I might as well act like one. Could be fun.

“Correct, professor, I have no clue what the hell you were nattering on about because I know the entire Arithmancy syllabus off by heart and didn’t think it important enough to lend you my attention. I haven’t listened to a word you’ve said since the beginning of fifth year and it hasn’t made any difference to my learning at all” I say, clear as day. Hey, that _was_ fun. 

I wait for the stunned class to erupt into noise, to be screamed at by my thunderstruck professor but that doesn’t happen. Instead, the best thing in the entire world tumbles out of my teachers smiling mouth, “you sound just like your brother.”

And then she just goes back to teaching, incredible! I had no idea Daniel was such a rebel, but come to think of it, that is something he would say to me, the revelation makes me grin and for the first time in over a year, I actually listen to the lecture happening around me. 

I’m still smiling slightly when I leave the room to find Lupin walking next to me, Potter and Black a few steps ahead. 

“Okay, so I have two questions for you” he starts, knowing he has my attention.

“Shoot” I say, earning a smile, apparently he thought I was going to ignore him, or shout, but that doesn’t really surprise me, that does seem to be my pattern when speaking to these boys. I don’t feel bad though, as I probably should, their fault for repetitively bothering and kidnapping me. 

“One, how the hell do you know Peeves?” Totally should have seen that coming, Peeves causes big problems for the boys, thanks to my probing. I never told him to frame the marauders outright, but the hint was always there, they’re just so easy to blame for pranks, keeps me out of trouble.

“Met him in my first year and saved him from the wrath of McGonagall, he is now forever in my debt” I laugh, not entirely true, he doesn’t owe me a thing, we just get along really well. “What was the other question?”

“Do you really know everything for Arithmancy?” Ah, so the rest of the class did hear my outburst, how many stares will that one earn? 

“Well, yeah” I start, a little embarrassed “Daniel loved Arithmancy, he always be studied over the summer when I wanted to play with him so he started to teach me everything. I always hated to do work but it was never as bad with him, he really loved to learn.”

“You really miss him don’t you?” Lupin asks, voice soft, and I swear I start to tear up.

“Yeah” I whisper back, totally oblivious to everything outside of my memories and Lupin’s voice, “yeah, I do.”

“Jem, what happened to him?” 

I focus on his face, he’s covered in scars. How have I never noticed? He disappears for days and no one questions it, just another scheme keeping him busy, but then he’s ill all the time and I’ve never seen a prank they do backfire onto him, at least nothing serious enough to leave a mark. Despite all that I realise how much I need that face in my life, so kind and so soft, he reminds me of Daniel. And I need that, so I tell him the truth, the same truth I’ve only shared with my closest friends.

“He was doing a project on werewolves, trying to find a cure, but someone wasn’t pleased about his research and sent werewolves to attack him” I explain, fighting away the flashbacks that come up when I talk about the night he died, finding his ripped up body in the woods just about killed me, that image sticks to the underside of my eyelids and I can’t blink it away. “I found him the next day.”

“I’m sorry” Lupin says, and I realise he’s holding me against his tall frame, trying to still my shaking form, but that’s not the thing that catches me off guard. His voice. It sounds so guilty. 

“You don’t have any reason to apologise, Remus” I say, frowning at him, he’s done nothing wrong. But still he stands there, fists clenched against his sides like he’s trying to reign in anger. “Remus.” 

“You okay, Moony?” Potter asks, stepping between me and Remus’s shaking form, I thought I’d been the one shaking, maybe he was shaking me. 

“I don’t-” I start but Black places a hand on my back and starts to lead me away from the scene. The last thing I see before I turn the corner is Remus collapsing onto James’s shoulder like a man who’s just lost his one true love. 

“Sirius-”

“No, Jem, just don’t” he says, his voice echoing through the deserted hallway, each time it repeats, the broken tone scratches my heart.

“Stop.” And to my surprise he does, so I turn to face him, and the heartbreak I see etched in his eyes creates a well in my chest. “Tell me what I said.” 

“Jem this isn’t your fault” he starts but I need a better explanation than that.

“Yeah, well it’s not his either so why did he look like he killed my brother? I know the werewolves that did, and it wasn’t him” I say, pouring all the truth and acceptance I can muster into my voice. Of course Lupin is a werewolf; the only surprising thing is that I hadn’t worked it out earlier. They call him _Moony_ for god sakes.

“How did you-? Did he-?” he stutters, fear in his eyes now, and fierce loyalty too, ready to defend his friend if he needs to, but he doesn’t, not from me.

“No, he didn’t tell me, I worked it out, and I won’t say anything, not ever” I promise, but there is still a shade to his eyes I don’t like. “Sirius, you can trust me.”

“I’m not good at trust” he admits, and that’s gotta take guts.

“No problem, cause I am” I say and take his hand, squeezing it tightly to force the shade away from his eyes, before pulling him back the way we came, back towards a sobbing werewolf and his out of depth friend. Flitwick won’t mind if I’m late.

“Lupin” I shout, down the hall he straightens up off his friend, ready to run. “Where the hell do you think you’re going?” 

He starts to run and _man_ that kid is fast. I drop Sirius’s hand and fall into a crouch; time to share a secret.

Before I know it I’m racing down the hall after Lupin, and gaining speed fast, helped, I’m sure by the four strong paws pounding against the tiled floor, propelling me through the air. I throw my weight upwards and fly over Remus’s form, skidding to a stop in front of him, growling at him to stop. Which he does, unsurprising, considering my rather impressive sharp teeth. My following growl halts Potter and Black, who now stand either side of their friend, wearing shocked expressions. Again, unsurprising, how else are three seventeen year olds supposed to react to a grey wolf standing two metres in front of them?

Content they won’t be running away anytime soon I shift back into my human form and rise from my crouch.

“You’re-” Remus starts.

“An animegus, yes” I say, not dropping eye contact “and you’re a werewolf.”

If I hadn’t been staring at him I might have missed his flinch.

“It’s nothing to be ashamed of, you know.”

“How can you say that? After what happened to your brother” he asks, ignoring his friends questioning looks, they don’t know about Daniel’s death then.

“Easily,” I state, and it’s not a lie “that man didn’t attack Daniel because he was innately cruel; he did it because Voldemort ordered him to. He wants werewolves on his side, and many of them want to take his offer because they can’t find the good in themselves, but my brother could, so he tried to make another option for them. He tried to create a way out that wasn’t death, and _I_ failed him, not you or your kind. I was supposed to be protecting him, and I didn’t, so don’t you dare blame yourself for something you didn’t do, that’s my guilt and hell if I’m sharing it with you!” 

I wasn’t supposed to say that. Not in a million years was I supposed to admit that, to anyone. And yet, I don’t regret telling him, maybe my guilt will actually help him forgive himself. 

“You can’t really believe that” James whispers to me, and I know he doesn’t mean my trust that Lupin is good.

“Why shouldn’t I? I should have known he’d be going out on the full moon and that he’d be in danger. Two wolves might have been strong enough to escape, but one alone had no chance.” I can hear my voice going blank as it loses emotion, and I see the reactions of the boys in front of me, which hurts just as much as retelling the story. 

“So you can forgive me for being a monster but you can forgive yourself for not dying with your brother? Jem that doesn’t make sense” 

“You’re not a monster!” I shout at him, growling.

“Neither are you!” he yells back, “he’d want you to be alive right now, and you’re wasting it on guilt.”

“Oh, and you aren’t? You push everyone away ‘cause you’re afraid of hurting them, even your friends! No one cares you’re a werewolf except you, so drop your fear around them” I say, trying to calm myself down but the words rip their way out of my throat, tumbling over each other in their eagerness to be heard.

“You should both stop blaming yourselves for things out of your control” a voice says from down the corridor, and I curse under my breath, Dumbledore has to know about Remus, but if he finds out I’m an unregistered animegus I’m in deep shit.

“Sorry professor” Remus says as he gives me an uneasy side glance, one I interpret as ‘does he know you can turn into a wolf at will?’ so I return the look with a firm shake of my head. Hopefully he takes the hint not to blab.

“The only person you need to apologise to, Mr Lupin, is yourself, and the same goes to you, Miss East” he says, looking at us both with a kind smile on his face, before turning to look directly at me. “Also, if you plan to host your party again this year I strongly suggest you ask Peeves to behave, we don’t want a repeat of last time.” 

“Thanks professor” I grind out through my teeth, trying to ignore the now grinning faces around me. He did that on purpose, douche bag always did like Gryffindors the most. 

“You are quite welcome” he says, calm as can be, and strolls away, heels clipping against the stone.

So, _that_ could have gone better.

“Party?” James asks, and I can just tell he’s grinning, even though I’m too busy examining the floor to actually look at his face.

“I, er, have to get to charms” I mumble and, keeping my gaze downwards, try to squeeze past the wall of marauders towards my class. 

It doesn’t work. 

Lupin wraps his hands around my left arm while Potter takes my right, and through my struggling Black places a finger under my chin and tilts it upwards, finding my eyes with a smirk.

“Don’t be silly, charms isn’t _nearly_ as fun as this. What party was dear Albus talking about just now?” 

“I’ve no idea, sorry, can’t help you” I say, trying and failing to sound convincing. Worth a shot.

“Jemmy, it’d be easier just to tell us” he says, practically singing. This boy is _way_ too happy. In a futile attempt to get away I start struggling again but the restraining hands on my arms are too strong. Time for plan B then. 

With a wolfish grin towards Sirius, I shift into my strong, muscled body and pad on the spot, knowing I have the upper hand. Even if Lupin could change on will he wouldn’t, and as far as I know the other two can’t become wolves.

“Boys,” Remus starts “how badly do you want to get into this party?” 

Their answering grin apparently says everything he needs to know before he nods towards Sirius, “this one’s yours mate, Prongs is too loud.”

Confused as hell I pace back a bit as James and Remus move to flank Sirius, and Sirius, well, Sirius turns into a dog. When I say dog, I don’t mean a cute little Labrador, I mean a hulking black hound with massive teeth. And so, like a clever little wolf, I run. _Fast._

I blitz through the halls, avoiding classrooms and offices, but the bark laughs from behind me never lessen in volume, spurring me faster and faster, until I find myself at a dead end I don’t recognise. Huffing out a breath that would be a curse if I could speak, I turn to face the grinning monster blocking my way out. 

That’s me out of options then. At least in wolf form anyway, so I shift back to myself and feel the strain in my chest increase, my lungs can’t cope with shortness of breath quite as well as my wolf ones can. Ignoring the tightness, I lift my wand and point it towards him, just as three figures fall into place behind him. I had a better chance of escaping them when there were three and I wasn’t exhausted. “Shit” I breathe, glad to have my words back; the only good thing here.

“Okay, so you’re a werewolf” I say pointing my wand towards Remus, before moving to point it at Sirius again, who changes back to himself at my attention “you’re a dog” I continue on to James “you can change ‘cause Remus said something about noise and called you ‘Prongs’ I think.”

“I’m a stag” he says proudly.

“Makes sense” I say before moving to face Peter, the mystery. “You, you’ve got to have a nickname, but I don’t know what it is, personality matches a slug but you more resemble a pig, so one of those,” I say with a grin.

“Is she still mad about the elf?” he asks his friends, but they’re too busy trying not to laugh to answer him. 

“Yeah, she is” I say before taunting him a little more “go on then, tell me, you’re a pig aren’t you?”

“I’m not a pig!” he says, clearly mad at his sniggering friends.

“That’s not an answer Peter dear” I say, adopting a patronising tone that has Sirius tearing up behind his friends back.

“I’m a-”

“Speak up hunny, I can’t hear you when you mumble” I say, and Sirius grips onto James shoulder in an attempt to stay standing. Clearly his animegus form is nothing to be proud of.

“A rat. I’m a rat” He admits and I have to cover my mouth with a hand to smother my laugh. That’s kind of a cross between my two guesses. 

“I can see it now” I say, chuckling, he does have some fairly rat like features, especially those beady eyes.

I watch as his anger builds with my laughter but I can’t summon any sympathy, if he wants my kindness he has to prove he deserves it. I’m used to giving away unconditional friendship but this boy, he has to earn it, and he can start by apologising to Puddle. 

“So this party” Potter starts but I’m already following to logic.

“Puddle” I call out and I barely have time to enjoy the looks of surprise on the boys faces before a pop sounds next to me and I’m whisked away by my friend. 

I’m deposited outside of Charms class by a grinning Puddle, late, but I’m sure I can sneak in.

“Thanks Puddle, I owe you one” I say, lifting her into the air for a hug.

“Puddle is happy to help” she says, squealing in delight, making me laugh.

“I’ll come see you tonight” I say, setting her back down on the floor before giving her a grin, “fancy causing a bit of trouble so I can get back in?”

Her evil little grin serves as my answer before she disaperates with a pop.

I sway on my feet waiting for some sign its safe for me to enter my class, humming some random tune when I hear a crash and a squeal from through the door at my left. That’s probably my cue, so I slip into a room of laughing students and one very small professor covered in a pile of books on the floor. I catch a glimpse of a giggling house elf in the corner of the room and throw her a grin before moving to help Flitwick. 

“Thank you dear” he says as I lift him from his position on the floor, before I begin rebuilding his tower of books. 

“No problem, Professor, I’m only sorry I couldn’t stop them in the first place” I say, smiling slightly at my new idea.

“Them?” he asks, looking up at my now sad face, I really wish this school did drama, I’d be top of the class.

“Who else would prank a teacher?” I say, shaking my head but stop when I notice his suspicious stare. This was _so_ much easier when no one knew I pranked. “The same group who would spread cruel rumours about me knowing I’d be too weak to fight back, I would guess” I whisper, trying to pour sorrow into my voice.

“Oh” he starts, fumbling for words “I had no idea. I erm. Well. I.”

“I don’t blame you for believing their lies sir, I would never hurt a teacher, especially my favourite teacher” I say sweetly.

“Laying it on a bit thick, aren’t we” I hear a voice whisper in my ear and I squeal. Damn that stupid invisibility cloak. And damn Potter for being underneath it.

But him being here is kind of perfect; if he reacts too loudly Flitwick will figure out he’s there, and assume he and his friends pranked him, I just need to shock a reply out of him. “Quiet while I’m trying to get you detention please” I say under my breath, keeping my lips as still as possible. 

“Nice try” Sirius whispers back and I growl at him, only he would see through my plan, he’s evil enough to think of it himself, his answering chuckle pretty much confirms as much. I bet he’s smirking. 

“Oh, thank you dear” Flitwick stumbles out, blushing and oblivious to the two hidden teens. I finish building his pile of books and glance around at the other students in the room; no one is paying attention, perfect. Time to step up the game.

“I had better get back to my seat now sir” I say solemnly before taking a careful step back until I feel a soft material under the heel of my shoe, “but, say what you will about James Potter, he is incredibly kind.”

“What are you doing?” I hear Sirius hiss at me at the same time Flitwick nods his head in agreement.

“He is to his friends, yes.”

“And Sirius, well, Sirius is fucking hot” I say dreamily, and watch as chaos ensues. 

Flitwick knocks over his newly built pile of books in shock just as Sirius breaks into a loud coughing fit and tries to escape the room, which he fails to do with the cloak on him as it is now in a pile by my feet. At the noise all the students look up and stare at a beet red Sirius Black struggling to breathe and a crying James Potter rolling on the floor in hysteric laughter.

“James Potter! Sirius Black! Detention!” bellows a pursed lipped McGonagall standing in the doorway at which I smile. There, that’s all I wanted. Thank you McGonagall. 

“And Miss East” she begins, noticing my evil smile “I think you had better come with me.”

“Shit” I mutter none too quietly, setting James laughing again.

“Come, all three of you” well that is _not_ how I wanted that to go, I’m losing my touch.

I catch Sirius’s eye and nod towards a still shaking Potter, no way will he be able to walk, and so me and Sirius each take an arm and haul him after McGonagall.

“A Hufflepuff in trouble, I never thought I’d see the day” Sirius whispers to me to break the near silence as we stalk through the halls.

“It’s weird for me too” I say, I have _never_ been in any serious trouble from a teacher before, the only time they even notice me is when I freak out over being called Jemima, which most of them now avoid thanks to experience anyway. My ‘good little Hufflepuff’ persona is crumbling to dust.

“Ever had a detention before?” a now calm James asks.

“Nope. But I guess there’s a first time for everything” I reply, and honestly, I don’t mind doing one, just so long as I’m not stuck with them while I do whatever chore Filch doesn’t want to do himself.

“There certainly is” McGonagall interjects, making all three of us jump; the woman can be scary when she wants to be. “In” she commands, and we march past her into her office. 

The boys immediately fall into two armchairs opposite the desk and look as though they belong there, which makes sense.

“Only you two would have regular seats in a teacher’s office” I mutter as I take up a chair myself.

“The way you’ve been behaving, Miss East, you might gain a regular chair in this office yourself” McGonagall says, voice cold.

“How-” I start but Sirius quickly explains.

“Minnie has very good hearing” he stage whispers to me and I emit a strange kind of strangled laughing noise from shock, I mean he called her Minnie, _Minnie_! I’ve only been in this office for one minute and already Sirius has pissed the professor off more than she already was. I can’t decide whether to be impressed or not.

“Sirius, would you stop calling me that” she says, tired exasperation lining her voice. I guess he usually calls her Minnie.

“Of course Minerva dear, now, how’s your day been?” he asks, trying to distract her I guess.

“Quite alright, Sirius, now please be quiet” she says sternly, but I can see a small smile lifting the corner of her mouth, I don’t believe it, she actually has a soft spot for him! James too I expect. And I thought she was just a strict scary teacher.

“Now, you will all be serving a detention together for one day this week, I do believe Professor Slughorn will be receiving fresh ingredients on Wednesday night and you three can store them, meet him in potions at six o clock, I will tell him of the arrangements myself so don’t think you can convince him otherwise, like last time” she says, giving the grinning boys a look. Clearly they’ve gotten out of detentions that way before and she’s learnt from her mistakes.

“I don’t know what you’re suggesting Minnie” Black pauses in his fake speech of innocence to allow her a small growl at his use of the nickname before continuing, “we’d never miss an opportunity to help out a teacher, would we Prongs?”

“Of course not, Padfoot, and how could we say no to spending time with our favourite Hufflepuff?” James answers in the same annoying tone.

“What other Hufflepuffs do you even know?” I ask, annoyed, I don’t get an answer. “Wow, none, really? McGonagall, you gotta sort the communication between houses thing, that’s ridiculous.”

“Yes, thank you for telling me my job Jemima” she throws at me, making me stand up abruptly, “sorry, I didn’t think.”

I can see the shock and regret in her eyes at using my name. She knows what happened to him, she knows why that name cuts so deep and she used it anyway, just cause she was _angry_. 

“Don’t worry about it Minnie” I spit at her, tears forming in my eyes. I can’t see her shame anymore; I’m too busy seeing a broken boy lying in the woods. I barely even register the new face blocking the room from me, still too busy locked in my trance. I can feel the blood on my hands and the chill in my bones, the freezing terror has me locked up. Sirius’s calls are lost on the wind of my memories and I start falling, just to hold the boy to me but when I get there the body is gone and my sobs break free.


	5. Deal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I don’t deal with boredom well. The same goes for being chased, intimidated and not being allowed tea. So… today could have gone better.

“Madam Pomfrey! How is she? Is she here?” a frantic voice shouts from the door, Carly.

“Quiet! You’ll wake her up idiot” a much closer voice whispers violently, that’s gotta be Sirius.

“You!” Emily shouts, ignoring his advice, I’d be annoyed if I didn’t know she’s just worried, “you did this to her! How could you?!” Okay, so maybe it isn’t just worry; that sounds a lot like anger.

“Em, it wasn’t him, calm down” I croak, making the chair next to my bed creak as I assume Sirius jumps up in shock. I’m not quite ready to open my eyes and check.

“Oh! Jem! I’m sorry for waking you, how are you feeling? Are you okay?” Emily stumbles out, still talking too loudly for my liking. 

“I’m fine, sorry for scaring you” I say but I can hear the tiredness in my own voice and know she doesn’t believe I’m okay at all, neither would I if it were her lying in the hospital bed.

I feel a hand brush a tear from my face I didn’t notice I’d shed but I still refuse to open my eyes. His face is there, young and healthy and smiling and I won’t risk getting rid of it, not now it’s so perfect. The hand moves to rest on the side of my face and Daniel’s smile falters, making me whimper. I want him to grin and his heart to beat.

“Jem, you need to open your eyes now” Sirius whispers to me, his voice soothing, but it makes Dan’s eyes sparkle with tears and I push away from his voice. I don’t want to hear it, not if it puts the image at risk, so I shake my head and scrunch my eyes closed tightly.

“No” I whimper and I hear someone near me start to cry. My friends. I’ve upset them by being upset myself. How selfish of me.

“Please Jem” he pleads, even he’s upset, I’ve become very selfish. He lowers his voice so no one but me can hear before continuing “he’d want you to open your eyes.”

My image of Daniel shifts, he’s looking at me in a sad way, not like he’s disappointed, more like he feels guilty. My breath catches as I stare at him, he blames himself. Stupid Ravenclaw, he’d have made a good Hufflepuff. I want to tell him it’s not his burden to bear, that it’s my fault I can’t let him go, not his. He was incredible, and inspiring, and the best brother a girl could wish for. And I miss him. God I miss him _so much_. But if I’m not careful that pain will make me miss life. I can’t live the rest of my life with my eyes closed to preserve the image of a ghost.

I whisper my silent goodbye and he smiles a little, I’ll let him go, for his sake. 

“There she is” Sirius says softly as I crack my eyes open. His face is hovering above me but he leans back, lifting his hand from my face as he does, allowing me to see behind him.

All my friends are here, looking worried and protective. Mark, Joey and Leon are all standing with their arms crossed, stress showing through their smiles, Carly’s standing in front of them with a relieved expression contrasting dramatically to her twin, who is apparently still sobbing quietly. And then there’s my new friends, Sirius is sitting in the chair next to my bed, looking mournful, James standing just behind him. A grimacing Remus is standing further back with Peter so I send him a glare which he grins at and mutters something to Peter on a sigh which I can’t hear, probably something along the lines of ‘stupid Hufflepuffs, stealing guilt’. Well, that’s what I was thinking about him anyway, only instead of ‘Hufflepuffs’ I had thought ‘wimpy werewolves,’ not that I’ll be telling ,em>him that.

That means there’s only one missing.

“Where’s Puddle?” I ask the room, my voice already sounding stronger.

“Puddle is here Miss Jemima” I hear from my feet as she climbs out from under her blanket to sit on my chest.

She presses her small hand to my cheek and smiles a sad smile. “Miss Jemima has many friends” she says in a soothing voice and I look back around to my friends, old and new.

I motion to the four boys I hadn’t really expected to love and shield my mouth from them as I stage whisper “they’re not really my friends, I just keep them around for decoration.” I earn some surprised laughs and a muscle show from Sirius and James but everyone stops to laugh when Puddle copies my pose to say “I thought that’s why you kept those ones” whist subtly pointing towards Leon, Joey and Mark.

Unable to control our laughter Madam Pomfrey comes storming into the room raving about noise and tells everyone to leave because I’m ‘in no state to be laughing’ or something along those lines. Healers are boring. So everyone leaves still giggling under their breath as Puddle struts out of the room in a perfect imitation of Pomfrey, calling to me to get better soon.

\---------

According to Pomfrey, emotional breakdowns merit one week’s bed rest, and constant supervision, which is why I find myself suffering from severe boredom a mere two days in. I haven’t been allowed to go to lessons nor do my homework, which ordinarily I’d be happy with, however it doesn’t leave much else to entertain me. My friends visit when they can but they’re never allowed to stay long and turns out sneaking out is impossible too; Pomfrey is quite the opponent. So I just lie in bed, counting the bricks that make up the walls, wishing for _anything_ to happen. Way to ruin my Friday!

I continue to grumble about mistreating students when I hear the door creak open to allow McGonagall entry to the room. My intrigue increases when she heads straight towards me, wearing an apologetic smile. I’m about to assure her of my forgiveness when an idea pops into my head. McGonagall is deputy head of the school, and I have her in my hand, time to put that power into action

“I’ll forgive you for it if you get me out of here” I rush my words, knowing full well Pomfrey is seconds away from banishing the professor for interrupting my healing. “I need to get out of here, I’m going crazy. Please” I beg. 

I don’t get an answer before speeding footsteps sound through the room, closely followed by the shriek of “don’t harass her when she’s resting!” I roll my eyes and sigh; does the woman never take a break?

“I merely wanted to know how Miss East is doing” she calmly explains before looking to me with a satisfied look on her face. “I can see she is coming along nicely, so she’ll be able to attend the detention I have arranged with Horace.” 

Pomfrey frequently tries to interrupt my almost saviour, but she continues to speak as she leaves the room, not even raising her voice as she gives me a final command to get ready and head to the potions classroom.

With a rushed apology to my healer I throw the blanket from me and practically run from the room to my dormitory. A detention is a detention, but it’s also a Friday and no way am I staying in school uniform for longer than I need to, and I can hardly turn up in my pjs. So I change into a comfy pair of black jeans and my baggiest top and survey my appearance. Not bad looking and incredibly comfy. Sorted.

After brushing my tangled hair and pulling it to the top of my head in my usual messy bun, I pull on some fluffy socks and head straight to potions, who needs shoes anyway? 

I suffer through stares and whispers as I walk the halls. At first I ignore the people that stop walking to look at me, assuming they either found out I broke down or are oddly surprised by my casual attire. Most of the idiots were wearing shoes, how dull. 

Then I start to care. 

I don’t like being surveyed, and that’s what’s happening here. I start to walk faster and keep my head down but the groups seem to grow in size, like they’re following me. I try to convince myself not to run as green and black cloaks catch my eye; Slytherins. I’ve never been scared of them before, usually I just have fun taunting them from a distance. Now they’re too close and I feel cornered.

_Shit._

I keep a steady pace, heading to potions and avoiding halls with an exceptional amount of students. Don’t get me wrong, I’m good at duelling, but I can’t hold up against a gang of angry Slytherins and if they hit a lucky spell and I lose my wand I’m finished. 

That’s _double_ shit if anyone’s counting.

I’m almost there when I turn a corner to find a herd of malicious faces grinning at me. 

“Fuck” I breathe when I catch sight of none other than Lead Bitch Bellatrix leading the group. She must have heard me because she emits a strange kind of cackle that has me a little fearful. This is one girl I do not want to face, good thing I’m not an idiot or I might actually try to fight her. Instead I plan an immediate escape route. 

“Look who it is!” she calls out in mock surprise as I scan the walls and floor for a passageway, without any luck unfortunately. “It’s the filthy halfbreed.”

At the word I stop looking for a way out and smile at her, putting all my hatred into it. She doesn’t even flinch. Well I’m afraid that sort of response won’t fly with me.

What makes you tick Belly?

“And look at you! The muggle definition of crazy bitch, oh sorry, witch” I spit back, hoping to get a rise out of her, anything as payback for that horrific word. She’ll regret even thinking it by the time I’m done with her. I bear my teeth at her in a malicious grin. “You’d better be careful or I might rip your head off next full moon.”

“What?” she asks, not from fear either, the glint in her merciless eyes isn’t telling me that. “You mean like you did to your filth loving brother?”

No matter how much I try to still myself; I flinch. That’s as good as admitting defeat here, and she knows it. But what can you say to hurt a crazy pure blood? I try to count the people in the hall, and I fail pretty quickly. Too many is the best figure I can come up with. 

“I asked you a question, werewolf” she states, grinning.

Let me just clear something up here; I’m not a werewolf, and they know I’m not. That doesn’t stop them from calling me one though. They know about my brother’s research though and like to taunt me with his death; Slytherins to a T. Honestly I’m surprised they even read the newspaper to find out about him, anything to torture a fellow student I guess.

“I heard you” I say, wishing for a witty comment to strike back with, but I’m too scared to come up with one. I fight back the urge to let my teeth sharpen into points to bare at them, encouraging them to believe I’m a werewolf is not a wise move and could end up as trouble for Lupin; not a risk I’m willing to take.

“Hey cuz” I hear a vicious voice say from behind me. Of course, I bet he can just smell fights, and if it gives him the opportunity to piss off a pureblood and save a damsel, even better. Me being the damsel. 

He stops just in front of me, protective fool’s gonna get himself hurt. 

“I can’t be bothered to spit words at her, you take the back, and I’ll take the front?” I suggest, keeping my voice low so only he can hear.

“I want Bellatrix” he says, complaining, but there’s a reason I offered him the group without her. Actually there are two, and only one of them includes a worry for Sirius’s safety.

“No, she insulted my brother, she’s mine” I grumble out. 

The only response I get is a slight nod before we both draw our wands and spin to stand back to back. Once again facing Bellatrix I throw her a grin and lift my wand. 

There! _That’s_ what I wanted. That flicker of fear.

Feeling confident, I throw the first curse.

\----------

I was right to feel confident. I can’t wipe the grin from my face as Sirius and I run hand in hand through corridors and passageways, sneaking up on Slytherins and sticking them to the floor with short term sticking charms; I’m not so cruel as to use a permanent spell.

By the time we reach potions class I’m sweaty, out of breath and very late.

“Well” I say between breaths “it was fun running with you, but I have a romantic evening with a slug so I’ll be off now.”

“That foul man! And I thought I was the only one he loved enough to call into detention” he sighed, shaking his head. 

“I can share him between the two of us I guess” I say, holding my hand dramatically to my still panting chest as though bestowing the greatest kindness when really I’m glad for the company.

“Make that three dearest Jem, for I too have been called here” James interrupts in a haughty tone that surprises a laugh out of me.

“As pleased as I am to hear you children indulging in hypercorrect grammar you had better get inside here and start sorting these” Slughorn says, leading the three of us into the dusty potions classroom and pointing to 5 crates of supplies so large it makes me step back. 

“I thought you two sorted all this crap on Wednesday after I went to the infirmary” I whisper to James who’s staring at the crates with wide eyes. At my words he blinks and looks down towards me, still slightly bewildered.

“We were a little preoccupied worrying about you” he says in a low voice, “McGonagall found me just a few minutes ago to say I should come help you. I guess she found Sirius too.”

I smile in spite of myself. I definitely misjudged that professor. Maybe I’ll pick up on homework in her class from now on. I mean, transfiguration comes pretty easily to me, I wouldn’t be an animegus otherwise but that doesn’t mean I listen to her lectures. Peeves would never have been happy with me if I respected her or any other teacher here. That’s a pretty basic rule of befriending a mischievous poltergeist.

“McGonagall is a ninja, she knows all” Sirius says, throwing his arms around me and James. 

“Does she know about Padfoot, Prongs and the rat?” 

“Hell no! We’d be expelled for that one” Sirius says as quietly as me, stopping Sluggy from overhearing and sending us to be expelled. 

“Good, you understand why I don’t want anyone knowing about a certain grey wolf then” I say pointedly. If I’m brought down, I’m bringing them with me.

“Understood Fangs” Potter chuckles.

“No” I say immediately, “I am not getting one of your stupid, obvious nicknames. I am not risking this secret for that.”

“Would you rather we go back to the sickly terms of endearment, blueberry pie-cicle?” James taunts. I can see Sirius batting his eyes at me and pouting from behind Sluggy too; as if it wasn’t bad enough already.

“That’s the most ridiculous thing I’ve ever heard, worse than Fangs, so, no, I wouldn’t rather that” I admit with a sigh. I’m losing.

“Then we will work on your animegus name!” Sirius says too loudly and I cringe as Slughorn turns from the crates to see us in a line smiling scarily at him. For three good liars, acting innocent on short notice isn’t something we seem to be good at.

“Get to it then” he says, shaking the suspicious look from his face and plodding away through the door, already forgetting us.

I am the first to breathe a sigh of relief and break our line formation. “Two years of being an animegus and hiding it well, and the moment I get close to you boys I almost get caught.” I say as I pace around the room, picking up a spare cauldron, filling it with water then bringing it to the boil. “You’re such idiots!”

“Two years?” They say in shock, and in unison.

“Stop that! I hate it when people speak in unison; it’s creepy and makes me scared” I say, still roaming the room, contrasting to their very still forms. Again: creepy. I keep bustling around, my speed increasing with the weight of their stares. Deciding this is easier dealt with now I release a slow breath and I turn to face them.

“Okay, yes I became an animegus when I was fourteen, I had help” I say, pausing my feet in front of them and only fidgeting a little bit. Big mistake. 

“Well played Miss East, well played” Sirius says slowly enough for me to grasp at the competition implied. I shouldn’t have stood so close; something I realise as their expressions change and they split up to begin pacing circles around me, no doubt to intimidate me.

“In case you’ve forgotten, I’m not allowed to prank you so a competition would be unfair and boring” I say, knowing full-well they wouldn’t be bored in the slightest but saying it anyway to comfort myself.

“Oh Jem, my Jem, you’re such an amateur” James says tutting at me. 

Sirius finishes his friends thought, wearing the same disappointed expression on his face. “You promised not to go against us, not prank with us.”

“Which is good for you, because we all know you aren’t quite as devious as us.”

“Too Hufflepuff-y good good to step up to the big leagues”

“Such a waste.”

“Think of what we could have taught you!”

At this point I get sick of them circling me, talking down to me from their height thanks to their stupid long legs, and stalk forward to the first of the crates. “It is a shame really; you could have taught me how to bring alcohol into the castle without teachers knowing!” I say, mocking them as I snap open the crate at begin lifting out countless bottles of fire whisky, blueapple fizzler and frozen mapleshot, checking them for damage and setting them aside to be moved and hidden in my room. 

“Or you could have shown me the perfect way to sneak ingredients onto Slug’s list to be ordered so I could have the herb tea I’ve been craving without having to pay Hickles the extortionate amount of money he charges in his stupid tea shop in Hogsmead” I add as I move to the next crate to pull out the needed herbs and drop some into the water now bubbling away in my cauldron. 

Having finished my point I turn to the boys now staring at me, shocked once again, only this time I’m pleased. I have to wait a while before they find something to say so I keep stirring my tea, trying my absolute hardest not to be smug. And failing.

“So” James starts, and I’m so sure he’s going to apologise that I turn round to face him but I don’t find what I expected. No, instead I find them staring at the alcohol and putting two and two together. There goes my smug face.

“This party you’re having” Sirius finishes, grinning.

“No” I say immediately, “no you cannot come to the party.” 

“Why not?!” Sirius moans, sounding very much the huffy three year old.

“Because!” I shout before I find a good reason and resort to the first thing that pops into my head “it’s just for Hufflepuffs.”

“Jem, there’s enough alcohol here for half the school and you expect us to believe only your house is going?” James quite cleverly points out the flaw to my lie.

“Okay… so the odd Ravenclaw and Slytherin comes along too, so what?” I say, trying and failing to keep my voice level.

“Slytherins?! You invite _Slytherins_!!” Sirius shouts, understandably outraged.

“Yes! They aren’t all pricks and they like a party, if they don’t behave themselves Peeves kicks them out anyway, or he’s supposed to…” I say, loosing myself in the memory of last year when Peeves had fun leading a group of rowdy, drunk Slytherins around the castle at night straight into the path of McGonagall who went memorably ballistic at the sight of underage drunks roaming around singing the Hogwarts theme song at the top of their lungs at half three in the morning.

“Why no Gryffindors?!” James shouts, matching the whiny tone of Sirius to a T.

“Well…” I start slowly, “when Gryffindors drink… you get kind of… _righteous_.”

“WHAT??” They say together then immediately start defending their ‘noble’ house. When they start retelling stories of drunken, definitely _non-righteous_ times I fully accept they’re mad at me, and that I don’t particularly care, I return my hands to my stirring rod and herbs while keeping my eyes on them, pulling ‘interested’ faces (much like I do in class). 

I feel my way through the process, enjoying the fact I’m proving what I’ve been claiming for years; I can totally make tea with my eyes closed. I mean, I know my eyes aren’t _technically_ closed but come on, my peripheral vision isn’t so good that I can stare intently at two stupid boys and see exactly what herbs I’m adding to my cauldron. So, yes, I will be bragging about this to Leon later, the numpty thought I wouldn’t manage it.

When I finally get to the end of the tea making process I curse my lack of milk and sugar, I really can’t drink tea without either of them, but Sirius and James are still ranting and raving, throwing their arms around as if it’ll improve the quality of their story telling, so I mutter a silent prayer of forgiveness and stop them mid-sentence.

“One.”

“What?” they say, again in unison and I have to forcefully stop myself from shuddering. But I carry on with my offer anyway.

“I will do _one_ prank with you, one and that’s it. In return you both need to shut the hell up and one of you needs to sneak to the kitchens and ask Puddle to grab me the milk and sugar that matches my lavender tea, and help her to carry it back. Do not let her carry it herself or apperate it back, you’re stronger than she is so act like a gentleman and carry the lady’s things.”

They look at each other like eye contact lets them speak directly into one another’s heads before turning back to me with what I hope is a yes but their eyes suggest something else; like bargaining. Sirius is the first to speak up.

“Three pranks, big ones, and four invites-”

“Five” James interrupts, it wouldn’t take a genius to work out ‘number five’ refers to one Lily Evans.

“Right, five invites to your party; then we’ll do as you ask.”

Their cocky smile suggests they know they’ve got me. 

Ideally, I’d have just said ‘no’, lifted my wand and shot mouth binding curses at them, but unfortunately my promise stops me from doing that; long way around it is then.

“Not a chance, you’re only getting sugar and milk for me and stopping the boring chatter, it’s an unfair trade! A severely unfair trade” I say, ready for arguing.

“What’s unfair is you not letting us come too! Aren’t we your friends now?” Sirius asks and I see James extend the slightest of glances towards his friend like he’s surprised by the words. Maybe he just heard something in his tone that I didn’t. 

Suddenly I’m reminded of the other week; being kidnapped and taken to Gryffindor’s common room. I can’t help but remember James, Remus and Peter insisting I was perfect for Sirius, and that he knew it too. Not only that, they said he was jealous. I know they lie and prank but they aren’t mean enough to convince me of something like that, or at least I don’t think they are.

But whether they’re right about Sirius’ complicated feelings or not (which I’ve already decided to ignore until I can sort out my life) I really do see them as friends, so I smile at Sirius and just say “yeah, yeah you are.” I didn’t expect the quite frankly dazzling smile to appear on his face and blind me, and judging by James’s reaction, he didn’t expect it either. 

“So… we are invited then?” James asks, hope filling his voice. 

Funny thing about this school, and all other boarding schools (I’m assuming), is that you don’t have too many options for fun. You can go walk the grounds. You can read in the library. You can hang out with friends in your common room or the great hall. If you’re old enough you can go into Hogsmeade for the day. But that’s about it. That’s it for _seven years_. I’m bored!! Everyone who isn’t a Ravenclaw is bored! Other than boring revision for boring exams and going to boring classes there’s not much fun to be had; at least not for the slackers of Hogwarts like me. So we need things to do, literally anything other than work. For example; I prank, Carly gossips, Mark does Quidditch and we all plan the yearly party. I see it as providing a service to the needy; provided they’re worthy.

“Okay; I’ll make you an offer, and I _promise_ it’s a good one” I say to them in my closest representation of a persuasive voice. “But, first you need to bring me the sugar and milk I need for my tea.”

“God you really want this tea don’t you” I hear James mutter under his breath and I can’t help but laugh. I really do want tea. But hey, cravings.

“Just go, when you come back I’ll tell you what you’ve earned.”

“How do we know you’re telling the truth?” Sirius asks, eyes narrowed.

I don’t even reply, I just give him an ‘are you serious’ look and watch over my tea. When he still doesn’t move James explains it to him. “Because she said she promises.”

Well isn’t that surprising, the boy listens. I chuckle to myself as they leave the room together but stop dead when I hear Black’s hushed words as he leaves the room.

“Mate, I’m doomed.”


	6. Not for the world, but for tea

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> About time the boys find out what they earned for bringing me my tea things in detention; and have a little fun while doing it.

I don’t usually feel nervous; I’m a surprisingly confident person so crippling pangs of anxiety have never had a particularly strong hold on me. Or so I had thought. So, instead of my normal cool I watch as my hands fidget rings around each other, getting increasingly annoyed at their persistence to dance.

“Stop it” I whisper angrily at them. I have nothing to be nervous about, I remind myself, they’re my friends, they’ll understand. When my hands don’t stop even after my pep talk I give up trying to persuade them and look around the library instead. 

Usually we hold these meetings in the common room but this year I suggested we invite one member of each house to join in, and as okay as I am letting Slytherins into the party, I do not want any of them knowing the password to get into where I sleep. I’m trusting but I’m not stupid.

But, in all honesty, I’m not worried because of the change of location, though I am sure I’d feel a tad safer were I sitting in my favourite armchair surrounded by the colour yellow, no, I’m nervous because there will be a Gryffindor at this table, and I don’t know which one.

Sure, it could be Lupin, it could even be Peter, but there’s a little part of my mind that is whispering ‘but you know it won’t be’. And my god that voice is loud for a niggling whisper. It took all my persuasive control to get Emily to let the only people in the entire school who prank as much as I do into the party we’ve spent months planning. And let me tell you it wasn’t easy. So if Potter or Black turn up and annoy her I won’t be able to look her in the eye ever again. Besides, I still don’t know quite what to do about Sirius.

With that line of thought my hands speed up, switching from a weird spinning tango to a very fast Irish jig. For Merlin’s sake! That kid will be the death of me. I’ve only known him for what? Three or four weeks? And I can’t get the numpty out of my head. And thanks to my own brains flaw I can’t get mad at him for possibly acting the same way because then I’d be a hypocrite! Besides what the hell am I feeling anyway? I mean I don’t li-

“Hey, um, Jem?” 

I am immediately torn away from that thought as I blink and turn to face the one and only Lily Evans. _Oh thank God._

“Lily! Hey!” I say, trying to sound as though I haven’t been freaking out for the last ten minutes. I know I’ve failed from the understanding look she gives me as she pulls up a chair and sits down. 

“Frightened I might have been one of the boys?” she asks knowingly and I immediately like her. I mean, I’ve never _not_ liked her, but I’ve also never really known her enough to like her. But all I need to know for now is she is understanding; good in my books.

“Yeah” I admit, grateful to feel my hands calm down enough to regain control of them. “It took a lot of work to get them invitations to this thing, I don’t want them ruining that.”

“I understand” she says, laughing lightly. “They like to push their collective luck.”

“So I’d noticed” I reply laughing along. “Ordinarily I’d have made sure they couldn’t show up, but now with them knowing me and my promise to Emily, that doesn’t seem as possible anymore.”

“Yeah, I heard about that” she says, a little guiltily. I’m really not surprised either, at this point I pretty much assume everyone knows about it. And I know exactly who to blame for that.

“Don’t worry about it” I say, smiling kindly. She returns the smile and we take seats at the table next to one another. I take a deep breath before moving on to stage one of my plan (well I didn’t intend for this to be part of the plan, but hey, when life gives you lemons). 

“Lily?” 3, 2, 1. Here goes nothing. “Would you be okay if I asked James out to this party?”

“What?!” She replied, near shouting and immediately caught herself. “I mean, yeah of course, don’t ask me.”

I hid my smile and carried on, “are you sure? You don’t look like you like the idea.”

“No!” She shouts again, and if I wasn’t sure before, I sure as hell am now.

“Lily, that boy is crazy about you” I say calmly, in a voice not unlike the ones my teachers use to describe something obvious in a kind way. “You need to know that, because he is incredible, childish, immature and sneaky sure, but _incredible_. And you are never ever going to find someone like him again.”

“I know” she whispers, looking down at her hands, “I know that”.

“Then for God sake, ask him out!” My turn to shout, it would have been funny if I weren’t so confused.

“I can’t do that, I’ve been turning him down for years, what if he doesn’t like me that way anymore? What if he just flirts now as, I don’t know, as a reflex?” 

I open my mouth to tell her that for a talented witch she was really, very thick but I’m interrupted by the scrape of chairs as the rest of our planning party join us. I look at us all, Lily for Gryffindor, Rosie for Ravenclaw, Jonas for Slytherin and me and Emily for Hufflepuff. This, unsurprisingly, leads to an immediate complaint from Jonas.

“How come there’s two of you from Hufflepuff?! How’s that fair?” I’m not known for an incredible amount of patience with Slytherins, so I can’t help but snap “shut your gob Jonas, or you’ll lose your entire house an invitation and Peeves won’t leave you alone for a month.”

Jonas just stares at me, so do the rest of them actually. So they all learn I’m not some easy going Hufflepuff and they still get shocked when my anger is directed at them, well, there’s more where that came from!

“You bit-” Jonas starts but is cut off by a snap of my wand and a sealing spell on his stupid loud mouth.

“That’s better,” I say sweetly and turn to the rest of the stunned students, some reaching worriedly for their wands, and I make the statement I’ve been rehearsing again and again in my head all morning. “I think we should let everyone come to the party.”

I’m met by exactly the response I’ve been expecting and I just let the outrage and questions roll over me, even Jonas gets a few angry squeaks out.

“I know, I know, but Dumbledore clearly wants his favourite house invited and I’ll bet he’ll convince the other teachers to leave us be so long as we leave an age line at the door so none of the younger students get it. That way we won’t need to sneak back to dorms, all houses have representation for the house cup drinking competition and we can always work out a way to keep people out like Bellatrix and her ilk. And that’s about all I have to say on that so I’ll let you guys argue away. Enjoy Em.” I give her a wink and except Lily’s grateful smile before I take the spell off Jonas and strut away.

As I head away from the fights breaking out at the table and I allow my fear to leak out of me with a big sigh. Part one done. I’d been debating over what sort of deal I’d offer to the boys regarding the party. This was the best idea I had come up with, it kept the boys happy, involved a new house, allowed the rest of us some slack from the teachers, I’d have fun with some matchmaking and there was still the extra surprises.

I continue to contemplate my not so evil plans when my attention is drawn to several gleams only just visible through gaps in the bookcase far from me but within sight of our little planning table. Eyes. I sigh and leave Emily’s and Jonas’s way-to-loud-for-a-library voices behind me, heading towards the exit, away from the eyes.

Just once you’d think they’d be able to leave the work to someone else, I did them a favour, one I didn’t even have to do and still, all the hiding and mistrust lives on. I get that trust is one thing they don’t seem to specialise in but the least they could do is _hope!_ I mean I promised to do my best for them, and if I hadn’t proved my trustworthiness by not sticking them to the ceiling every time I get mad then what I just did has to constitute as pretty damn good at keeping a promise. God I’m sick of my temper flaring up this often, I’ll have to take up yoga or something at this rate.

Once I’m hidden from view I circle back to the back of the library, looping round the bookcases, weaving around chairs and tables as quickly and as quietly as I can. It takes practiced skill to move like this, and practiced eyes to spot it.

“Boo”

I jump out of my skin. 

“How about that time?” Sirius asks, his smirk practically glowing. I’d like to punch that face, I decide.  
Even yoga won’t help this.

“What?” I growl, letting a little wolf seep into my tone. See, temper again. 

“Was I scarily hot that time?” He says, still smirking. I can’t stop my hands from balling up at my sides and pulling back to throw a swing. I also fail to stop James from taking my hand in his and pull it to his chest so I can feel his laugh through his shirt, rumbling over my skin. 

“I’m not sure you were,” James says, still chuckling. “Seeing as she was about to whollop you.”

“Dude, scarily hot people can still be wholloped by Jem, I think she seeks our race out just for that.”

“You’re damn right I do,” I say, glaring at them both, “you deserve it the most.”

I take a second to calm my heart rate and breathing. I’m not fool enough to misunderstand where my anger stems from; I’m mad at myself for being caught, and a little upset, who knew my ego was so big and easily bruised? I guess I’ll have to practice my sneaking to avoid being caught quite so easily next time, because with these boys you just _know_ there’s gonna be a next time.

“What are you doing here?” I demand, my breathing a little more even. 

“Lily wouldn’t let us come to the meeting” Sirius says, pouting like a baby.

“You know there’s a damn good reason she didn’t let you go to the meeting, it’s hard enough getting all the houses to agree on something when the people are friendly, throw you lot in with your big mouths there’s no way it would end well. And then you thought you’d eavesdrop? You couldn’t just leave the planning to the grown-ups?”

“Yup! That pretty much covers it” Sirius says, his pout turning into a grin. I don’t grin back. _For Merlin’s sake!_ What a waste of a good lecture, they have a natural force field for this shit. Sirius continues on, oblivious to my swearing inner voice. “But seeing as your new found love of all things Gryffindor has us all invited we don’t need to listen any longer, shall we go find some people to annoy?” 

“Why bother?” I ask, “you’ve already found someone to annoy, and I can say first hand you’re doing a damn good job of it already.”

“Oh Jem Jem Jem, you may as well get used to it, I suspect you’re stuck with us now!” In spite of myself I laugh at this, then I laugh more at his stunned expression as a I link arms with him. I could feel the other boys trying not to stare at that small connection, but I knew what I was doing and I wasn’t about to back track now. Time to see if my flirting skills are working today.

“I suppose I am,” I say, walking off arm in arm with probably the hottest guy in this whole damn school, “Fortunately I’ve got a thing for scarily sexy guys that just won’t quit.”

Judging by the smouldering smile I get in return, I comfort myself with the fact my skills may not be as rusty as I’d feared.

I go ahead and ruin it with relish, “but I do not love all things Gryffindor, you got nothing on me.”

Sirius laughs, head thrown back and grinning widely. “Prove it.”

\----------

“Where the hell are we East?” Sirius shouts as his foot gets caught on another step and he once again falls onto me. He’s done it enough times for me to believe he’s no longer doing it as an accident. 

“Get off and shut up” I say, shoving him off me, letting Potter catch his weight and try not to tip over himself. I’ve been leading them around in circles and only Lupin seems to realise it, clever boy. But I’m not willing to let them find their way back so I lead them once again round the stairwell and down hallways, making sure their blinding spells don’t slip.

“Come on, we’ve been walking for hours!” Peter moans at the back of the line. I stifle a rude comment.

“We’ve been walking for twenty minutes and will continue to do so until Moony stops working out where we are and lets himself enjoy the surprise.” I say, rounding a corner even I don’t recognise. Three of the foursome shout at Lupin to let it go and just walk so they can stop wandering around like lost ducklings following their mother. I smile at this and can’t help but laugh outright when a group of Gryffindors round the corner and stop dead at their lords and masters trailing a Hufflepuff now known for pranking. 

“Oh man, this better be worth it” Sirius moans, “our reputations are being flushed down the bog for this.”

“Damn right they are” I say as I wink at the poor group and laugh my best evil laugh, “soon the whole world will know… GRYFFINDORS SUCK.” I cackle again and start up a little song about all the things wrong with the high house. The boys groan, but as per our agreement, they don’t contradict me. Man this was _fun!_

When we finally come to the surprise I leave myself one second of regret that my power over them keeping their mouths shut is fading. Then I just throw up the door with relish and immediately a grin falls to my face. 

“Boys,” I say, letting their blindfold jinxs drop. “Meet your arch enemy. Arch enemy, meet your favourite victims.”

My grin lifts far enough to strain my face as I watch the boys come face to face with the devil, otherwise known as Peeves. The other expressions in the room do not mirror mine. Peeves looks evil (as usual), Pettigrew looks terrified, Lupin looks a little bewildered, Potter looks like he’s about ready to faint but it’s Sirius I stare at the longest. He’s looking at me, not Peeves, and he’s not looking afraid, he looks… well, he looks like he might fall to the floor and kiss my feet like I’m a goddess. 

I smirk at him, trying to rid the image of him kneeling before me out of my head. “I think I just proved it,” I tell him, watching as he nods and lets out a long breath.

“Well good,” I say, plopping myself down onto my couch. “It’s about time you knew who it is you’re dealing with, I’m not all sunshine and rainbows.”

“HA! You’ve as much sunshine and rainbows in your blood as I do!” Peeves spouts, ending in a high pitched laugh he uses to scare kids. He hovers over to the couch I’m on and delicately perches himself on the arm of it; pretending he can sit down in order to look dignified or whatever.

“You don’t have blood” Lupin states, shaking out of his shocked state first, his words waking up the others too, except for Peter who is edging behind Potter, no doubt looking for protection.

“Exactly” Peeves grins and I snort.

“Come on man, I’m at least 20% sunshine and a good 35% rainbows and you know it” I say to Peeves, bantering in a way I’ve been comfortable with since the moment I saved his ass years ago.

“Don’t push your luck, Hufflepuff” Peeves warns, “your storm clouds and thunder 100%, no room for anything cute and cuddly.”

“Aww Peeves, you big flirt” I say, batting my eyes at him, making him grin.

“Just what kind of relationship is this?” Well that can only be Sirius. I look at him to find storm clouds and thunder in his eyes and I can’t help but laugh.

“He’s my pranking mentor, I learned from the best, and then I became the best.”

“The student became the master” Peeves says and I smile contentedly. All I need in life is a comfy sofa; and sufficient entertainment of course.

“But I didn’t bring you here for the lessons you so sorely need” I say with a wink and a grin at their outraged faces, “you’re here to listen to the prizes you’ve earned as payment for bringing my tea things and shutting the hell up. Now, you’ve clearly already ‘overheard’ prize number one: the Gryffindor house’s entry to the party. But be aware that Peeves is the bouncer for this party and if you piss him off getting in will be the least of your worries.” This brings a threatening grin to Peeves’ face and a sick one to Peter’s; I enjoy both.

“Prize number two is, unbelievably, trickier for me to pull of thanks to your collective bad luck with women.” This expectedly receives some offended looks which I try not to enjoy too much. “James, I’m working on getting Lily for you, please restrain from the hero worship you’re considering. Lupin, I’m open to suggestions but I have someone in mind already. Peter, give me a name and don’t be too over-ambitious. Sirius… you don’t need help.” His grin is worth the shocked look I get from Peeves as he realises I find him attractive, then he turns disapproving, so I ignore him. I also ignore the stunning smile Sirius gives me, and the wink that turns my knees wobbly.

“May I please point out that prize two is limited to my powers of persuasion, I will not be dishing out love spells cause that’s hella creepy.” I give Peter a pointed stare before continuing on to possibly the most dangerous prize of them all. “Lastly…” At my pause, Potter and Black begin to grin, guessing what’s to come probably. I sigh. “Lastly you each receive my help on one _minor_ prank and before you get excited the conditions are that I make all final calls regarding plans and the victim can’t be someone I like; so basically no Hufflepuffs.”

“Sound fair?” I ask, knowing full well it is a very fair deal and I’ve probably been over kind. Giving them no room to complain or start bitching I nod to myself and lift from the couch. “Good, now Lupin, I suspect you’ll be the easiest to start with. I need two names, one to date and one to destroy.” 

I lead him from the room, leaving the others mostly in shock of my awesomeness; just how I like it.


	7. Messers Moony and Wormtail

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Today will be matchmaker and prankster day, school work can wait.

“So what? You’ve, like, swapped professions or something? You’re a matchmaker now?” Leon asks, walking alongside me. He’d insisted on walking me to Arithmancy this morning, I assumed it was a kind of brotherly protection thing, considering I have new scary friends and possible unknown enemies. I haven’t received retaliation from the Slytherins, namely Bellabitch, and that’s a little worse than a cause for concern. More accurately a run and hide situation.

“Not exactly,” I say, lugging my bag more comfortably onto my shoulder, “it’s more like I’m expanding my trade for some special clients.”

“Yeah, very special” Leon says with a wink and I laugh, nodding in agreement. They’re certainly one of a kind anyway, or four of a kind I suppose. “Are they good?” Leon asks, his whole demeanour changing in an instant. It shocks me enough into stopping. 

In his question I know he means so much, he wants to know if they’re kind, if they deserve my trust, if they’ll look out for me and not hurt me. But before I answer I suddenly realise it’s more than just knowing I can trust them, he means that if I say they’re good, then he will look out for them too, that we all will. I lean forward and hold him tight before I think better of it. 

“Yes,” I whisper, “they’re good.”

“Who’s good?” 

“Oh for Merlin’s sake you don’t half make it hard do you?” I say, pulling away from Leon and looking towards a slightly bewildered Remus Lupin. Before he can say anything I sigh and just shake my head, pushing irritation away and letting light amusement take its place. 

“How you doing, Remus?” Leon asks, throwing his arm over my shoulders. 

“Good thanks, and you?” 

“Yeah good, but if you’re both off to clever people class then I’ll leave Jem under your protection and see you at lunch,” Leon lifts his arm, giving me a playful nudge.

“With my life,” Lupin says and I push them both.

“I can handle a bunch of dopey Slytherins, like you said, I take clever people classes” I wink, only partially offended. “My life is safe in my own hands, thank you very much; now let’s go pretend to learn some stuff!” 

I link arms with Lupin and saunter off with a happy wave to Leon who heads in the other direction. I also ignore Lupin’s mutterings that not _everyone_ knows the syllabus by heart and simply assure him that he has more important things to learn; like my magnificent plan.

“Who would have guessed you’d be so happy first thing, and going to class too! You’ve changed” Lupin says, staring at our linked arms with a bewildered expression, no doubt wondering if I was up to something evil.

“This is first thing for you, not me” I reply, “I’ve technically been up since three setting up some stuff, you missed my grumpy morning phase you lucky duck.”

“Really lucky duck, knowing how bad you can be” he says laughing at a memory. And I know exactly which one.

“Look I never forced you to face my morning wrath, you brought that upon yourself and you’ll know better than to test me before breakfast in the future, right?”

“I can’t promise anything, I’m afraid.”

“You should be afraid, very afraid” I threaten, trying to hold a slap back as he laughs outright at me.

“You’re cute when you’re threatening” he says, still laughing.

“Oh shut up and get moving” I mutter. I didn’t know it was possible to be annoyed and happy at the same time, but I’m managing the balance for now. “We’ll be late.”

“No we won’t” he says, glancing at the time on his watch then back at me.

“We will if I’m forced to deck you! Then I’ll feel bad and drag your bruised ass to class.”

He tsks and laughs more, muttering cute again under his breath to annoy me. Before I move from threats to actual violence I fall back and push his annoying form through the door and get him sitting before taking a seat myself. We both take our books from our bags, his full of confusing scribbles, mine practically empty bar a few numbers dotting the page as answers. With a small amount of satisfaction I also notice considerably more ticks in my book; I turn to a new page before I start bragging.

“Good morning all…” the teacher starts up and I lift a pen; probably not for the right reasons.

“Okay” I whisper to Remus, “who do you want to take to the party?” His attention swaps from the lesson to me in a flash, a worried look on his face. 

“About that...” he begins and I wait for him to start speaking again instead of interrupting. “I don’t think I want to take anyone, I’m not really a dating kind of guy.” He starts rubbing his wrists, and the scars that line his arms. _Oh._

“You don’t have to date them you know” I start, trying to find the right words, ones that won’t throw him over any inner ledge he may be standing at. “It’s just a party, and I’ve kinda already found someone for you approval.”

“You have? Who?” I smirk at his obvious excitement and hope I’m right in my choice for him.

“The wonderful, glamorous girl I call my roommate; Carly.” I hold my breath for his reaction, hoping I haven’t misjudged the looks I’ve caught him throwing her way. He blushes and I grin. So much for ‘I’m not really a dating kind of guy’. He’s still a guy, and a teenage guy at that. Besides, Carly is hot.

“Acceptable?” I ask, eyebrows raised. 

He coughs before he speaks, “acceptable.”

“Perfect!” I say, not hiding my excitement. Setting Carly up with someone would both make her happy and get her off my back about my dating life. Two birds with one stone. “All I need now to start planning is one more name,” I lower my voice to keep from being overheard mentioning the ‘p’ word. “Who do you want pranked?”

He smiles a devil’s smile and I feel my excitement double despite my best efforts. The name he gives me explains the smile and _I love it_.

“Excellent choice, I can work with that” I say, pleased that my mischievous brain has found a match.

I lean back in my chair, content to ignore the lesson and get to planning. My gaze drifts back to the teacher for a second and I try to focus briefly on what she’s talking about. Equations of time travel line the board and I resist the temptation to roll my eyes. _This again_. I sigh and return to my notebook, writing ideas down for the prank I owe Lupin. I note down a few things about Carly too, just odd things that might help in getting her to say yes to going to the party; her favourite food, her hobbies, places she likes. 

The next time I glance up my page is full of notes and I accidentally planned what is probably the coolest way Carly will ever be asked out. I nudge Lupin, ready to let loose of the wave of smug bragging building up in my chest when I notice his much less impressive page of notes. _Oh sweetie_. He turns towards me and my smugness stutters, instead of ‘who’s the best’ I go with “You need a hand?”

He looks back at the now full board and back down at his tangled mess of a page and sighs. I take that as a pretty solid yes and slide closer to him. It takes me a while to locate question one and the jumbled numbers accompanying it but once I do I see the problem immediately.

“You’re using the hour formula instead of the minute one” I say, pointing towards a scribbled note in the top corner, “so long as that’s the only problem, and your numbers are all in the right place you just need to divide each of your answers by sixty to fix the formula.”

As he goes about that task I decide to start the questions myself and actually do some work. Look at me, being all Ravenclaw and stuff. I giggle at myself thinking about how Daniel would absolutely call me out on that and give a detailed presentation on what it really means to be a Ravenclaw, at which point I’d fall asleep and happily prove him right. 

“Jem” I pull my head from my workbook and look round to find a sweaty looking Lupin. I look at his book again and start to wish Daniel actually _was_ here to give that presentation, and then to help out my poor friend cause the notes I’m looking at now… scary. 

“Well shit” I say, cause I feel like the tumbled together numbers and scribbles and what I swear looks like drawings of a watch absolutely deserve at least one swear word to properly convey its awfulness. I continue to stare at it, trying to decipher exactly what numbers belong to which questions. Then I just give up and say “new plan.”

Lupin just nods, accepting that I can’t work out the mess, and he probably wouldn’t be able to either, so I push his book away and pull mine closer to us both. Then I begin with question one. 

\----------

“I’m bored.”

A pencil snaps in my hand. Not the first to have suffered that brutal death and not the last if I Peter continues to repeat and repeat those words. I swallow hateful words, pick up another pencil from the table, and rest it against my near empty page. I want to fill it with sketches of his death but refrain, barely.

“So am I, so just pick two names and we can stop talking to each other.” I’ve been trying to get a name to prank and a name for a date from Peter for what feels like an hour now, but that may just be my annoyance stretching minutes to hours in my mind. Either way, I don’t think I’ve ever spent this much time in the library before without trying to escape. “It’s really not that hard.”

“Yes it is” he grumbles, head hanging downwards, hands nervously wringing on his lap. 

“Let’s just start basic” I suggest, knowing that shouting will only set us back. “Pranking, pick a house, Slytherin, Ravenclaw or Gryffindor?”

“Not Hufflepuff?” He asks, and I just shake my head, keeping ‘of course not you stupid prick’ from slipping out from my mouth. Like I’d hurt my own house for this ass. “Fine, then I want to prank a Slytherin.”

Okay, progress. Now we’re only looking at a quarter of the school. “Great, boy or girl?”

“Umm, boy.” And now an 8th of the school. 

“Any Slytherin boys been a dick to you recently?” At that question Peters hand wringing increases pace and I know I’ve hit a rather soft spot. He may be a pain but I start to tread carefully. “This would be a good way to get payback you know.”

“They’d know it was me” he says at a whisper and I can hear the pain in his voice, even though I know he’s trying to hide it. Because of that, and because I think I can also here a bit of embarrassment in there too I don’t ask what happened. Slytherins can be cruel, but I can be crueller. 

“He’ll know it’s me, don’t worry, just give me the name. He won’t come after you, I promise.” There were plenty of ways to through a victim off the scent.

The first time Peter says the name I don’t hear it. The second time is louder, and because of the crack of fear in his voice when I write his name down I underline it. And when I see his eyes tearing up I add another line. This one will pay.

I smile at Peter, pretending I can’t see the silver lining his eyes, and ask for the second name. 

This time he doesn’t stutter, his voice doesn’t break, and I see trust in his eyes where tears were a second ago. 

“Perfect, thank you Peter. I’ll let you know what’s happening when I’ve planned it all and you’ll get a front row seat when I make that asshole pay, publicly.”

Peter just smiles, nods, and walks away, leaving me alone with my thoughts and more anger than I expected to feel on Peter’s behalf. I wasn’t just angry that a Slytherin prick hurt someone who didn’t deserve it, it was the fact that I just _knew_ that Peter hadn’t told his friends. That he’d just taken the pain from being picked on and kept it to himself. I could only guess, but some part of me had figured out that he didn’t want his friends to know because he already knew he didn’t quite fit in with them and was scared that this was proof of that and they’d ditch him. Even _I_ knew they wouldn’t do that and I didn’t even like Peter. But I suppose, when he wasn’t trying so hard to fit in, when he was just himself, he was probably a decent person; it was enough of a realisation that I made a note in my book to make damn sure the girl he liked said yes and meant it.

Once I’d made my last few scribbles into my book, vague plans of spells and places best to cast them to their full potential, I pushed my chair back and lifted my stuff ready to escape this massive room of learning. Not the place where I most fit in I’ll admit. After standing though I realised I wasn’t quite sure where to go. I could go into full planning mode; visit Peeves and get most things sorted out for Lupin and Peter before I moved onto what I imagine with be a way more extensive plot for the other two. I could go and hang out with my friends, relax with them in front of the fire, maybe slip in some praise of Lupin for Carly. Or I could seek out Potter and… well I could just start with Potter. Think about the rest later.

My mind made up I head off to the Gryffindor tower, trying very hard not to appear like a scared little chicken walking into the foxes lair. I consider turning, I have a lot of work to be getting on with, the number of components for Lupin’s prank alone will take time. There was the space; getting a hold of the class room I wanted would be tough, getting the professor to not only agree but also participate would be particularly impossible, but the affect it’ll have getting her involved… unforgettable, people would speak of it for months, maybe even years. There was so much that could go wrong in it, maybe keeping a clearer schedule until the foundations for that were put in place would be the safer idea. _Or maybe I really am a scared little chicken walking into the foxes lair_. I want to kick myself for the fear. I should be damn well used to being stared at by now, a prankster Hufflepuff that made emenies of the Marauders, had a freaking mental breakdown and then was suddenly _friends_ with the Marauders! That amount of gossip attached to one person in such a short time frame is unheard of. And yet, here I am, standing at the painting of the fat lady, about to make it all a lot worse for myself, very fast.

Not giving myself a chance to second guess my stupid ass decision I look the lady in the eye and say ‘Angelico’. She smiles at me as the picture swings open for me. I let a swagger come to my hips and tilt my lips to a smirk. Why be confident when you can just pretend to be until you actually are?

“Pst” I stop, turn and raise my eyebrow at her, too scared to risk losing my smug persona in asking what she wants aloud. With real words.

“They’re all in their dorm; take the left stair well, four floors up and the last door.” I only manage a surprised blink and a nod at her before I take swaggering step into the common room and grin like a fox.

“Evening all” I chirp, winking at a group of gaping boys, mouths hanging open. One of them snaps their mouth closed at the blatant arrogance of the gesture and I just laugh heartily, keeping my fear well hidden behind the swing of my hips and the boasting of my smirk. I take a quick stock of my surroundings. The common room is full; like I expected of this time of day with the exception of four. Couches are full to spilling and people stand and sit in small groups. Some had clearly been working on homework; others were avoiding it with equal obviousness. No matter what they had been doing though, they weren’t doing it now. Trusting the fat lady’s word, I head in the direction of the left stairwell and ignore the majority if the room. I keep my act in place like armour, deflecting fear as people openly stare at me, allowing me to grin back. I am a wolf. I can take a room of foxes. 

I take the steps slowly at first, letting peoples stares track my movement. More than a few eyes, I knew, were watching my swinging hips, and slightly lower than that, but I refused to stiffen my walk. Eyes I could take so long as they stayed away. As I make the fourth floor landing I finally allow a sigh to escape my lips. That was… a new experience. I shake my head, trying not to think about the rumours I’ve probably inflicted upon myself in acting that way. Still, probably better to the alternative of looking weak and people thinking I’m an easy target. If I’m honest, I’m probably one of the worst targets a person could pick. I’ve said it once I’ll say it again; born to be a spy.

I walk forward on silent feet and knock softly on the wooden door at the end of the hall. Please let the fat lady be telling the truth. If some random person opens the door I’m not sure whether I’d freeze or run. When the door opens I realise two things. One, the fat lady was telling the truth. Sirius stood holding the door open, shirt unbuttoned halfway, hair mussed like he’d been lying in bed and eyes alight upon finding me at his door. The second thing I realise is that the fat lady is also a big fat liar. As I peak over Sirius’s shoulder I see no other boys present. That woman and I are gonna have words about what ‘they’re all’ means.

“Jem, how may I be of service?” Sirius asks, sketching me a gallant bow as he opens the door to let me into the room. Before I answer he’s already crossed the space and fallen onto what I assume is his bed. The room is cosy, the large four poster beds taking up most of the space. Trunks lay at the end of each bed, all flung open with mess spilling out onto the floor. I have to step over discarded robes and jeans in order to reach the bed closest to Sirius to sit opposite him. 

Finally sitting, in what I assume is James’s bed due to the framed photo of what can only be his parents smiling and waving on the bedside table, I look back to Sirius. He’s staring at me intently, waiting for me to answer his question. 

“It’s actually a matter of how I can be of service to you,” I say and resist the urge to blush when he raises a suggestive eyebrow at me. “I need your names for your present.” Sirius was last on my list to talk to. I hadn’t wanted to admit it to myself but I was scared of hearing the name of who he wanted to take to the party. I was split between wanting him to say my name, to be wanted by the guy I’d somehow become attracted to in the past few weeks, and being terrified that he would say my name. I hadn’t gotten a chance to see who I wanted to go to the party with; I’d been too busy trying to actually plan the damn thing, never mind think about a date. But I didn’t know if I did want to go with Sirius, that is if he’d even want to go with me. I’m not exactly used to being seen as desirable; hell I’m not used to being seen at all!

“Easy,” he says, grinning and my breathing falters a little. “Bellatrix.” My breathing stops entirely.

“What?” I ask, slowly enough for his grin to stretch.

“Bellatrix, I want us to prank her.”

“Yeah, I thought that’s what you meant” I say, trying to make my voice sound normal but it comes out with more of a threatening, crazy vibe. “Are you _insane_?” 

I’m stood up now, looking down at him. He is insane. _Totally insane_. To take on Bellatrix unprovoked… it would be like poking the devil with a big stick with a knife strapped to the end of it. That’s what Bellatrix was, evil. Rumours had been flying around her for months now; people said she was in with the Death Eaters. That she was Voldemort’s faithful servant. People said she had _killed_. Now, I don’t normally trust rumours but this… Bellatrix had known about my brother. If the rumours had any speck of truth behind them, well, let’s just say I’ll keep that big stick pointing in the opposite direction. 

“I don’t think so, but who can really be sure?” Sirius says, still in good spirits.

“I can be sure, you think I’m going after Bellatrix Lestrange with you then you are insane. Completely insane. She knows how my brother died! She knew before anyone else in this school did! Sirius,” I say, taking in a deep breath to control my growing hysteria, “Sirius, she turned up at his funeral.”

“She did what?” he asks, voice stone cold where it was light and warm a minute ago.

“She- she-” I tried, again and again to get out what I’d kept in for a long while. 

It was cold when they buried my brother. I could remember standing with my father, holding his hand and standing over the grave as dirt was shovelled on top of the coffin, then I’d seen her. She’d stepped into the graveyard like she owned the very ground. Her strut stood out against the unmoving grass as she paraded herself towards the mourners surrounding the grave. It was only when she got close that I recognised her. She’d grinned when she saw me reach for my wand and push my father behind me ever so slightly. I’d already heard the rumours about her back then, and I also knew who had ordered the death of the boy being covered in earth. I was scared. I’d seen what the Death Eaters could do and if they’d sent her as one… I wouldn’t lose anyone else. 

She stopped two steps away from me, ignoring me and looking to my dad, still standing behind me. _Sorry for your loss_ , she’d said. My hands shook at my sides at that, at the tone that didn’t match the words. My dad missed it in his grief and smiled at her pushing forward to shake her hand. He asked how she knew Daniel and she’d scoffed.   
_Oh, I didn’t know him. No. I make a point not to associate with_ his kind. My father frowned at her then, obviously confused. I wasn’t confused, I wasn’t sad either, I was angry. 

_Why are you here then_ , I’d asked. She just smiled at me and I gripped my wand tighter in response. She tipped her head back towards my father and gave him a surveying glance. 

_You’re a muggle, aren’t you_ , she’d said instead of answering me. It didn’t sound like a question.

_You need to leave, Bellatrix_ , I said before my dad could ask what a muggle was. Our family had an… odd arrangement. One I didn’t feel Bellatrix had a right to know about. She had plenty ammunition as it was, what with my brother lying still only feet away from our conversation. _Now._

She just grinned and asked _but don’t you want to know what I came here for?_

At that point I didn’t care if she’d come just to laugh in my face, she needed to leave, so I just said no and took a step forward, trying to intimidate her into leaving. She shrugged at the threat and turned to leave. That had been bad enough. But I wasn’t given the privilege of not knowing why she’d come. She told me why over her shoulder as she walked away. 

I turn back to Sirius, letting the graveyard fall away from my memory but holding on to Bellatrix’s parting statement. “She said she came to deliver a message. She said… ‘The Dark Lord sends his regards’.”

“That’s who killed your brother?” Sirius asks in a very low voice. I realise that Lupin hadn’t shared our talk with his friends, and a distant part of me is quietly grateful for that, that he left the choice to me. 

I nod to Sirius and he drags in a ragged breath. My eyes fill up at the sound and I find his standing opposite me when the tears clear enough for me to see again. “I’m so sorry” he says, and a sob manages to get out. “We’ll prank someone else.” I nod and he just pulls me into his arms, folding me to his chest to let his shirt muffle the sobs now wracking my body. I let myself cry. I know he won’t judge me for it. We stay there for a while, until I can think again. 

“How about the Slytherin quidditch team?” I ask finally. He just mumbles a confused what and I explain. “Prank the quidditch team, see how well they can fly with their broomsticks bright pink for the first game of the season?” 

“Perfect” he says, pulling back to look at me. I smile. “Will you go that party with me, Jem?” 

I pull back further, shocked out of crying. “What?” I ask, stunned.

“Will you go to the party with me, Jem?” he repeats, slowly, like he’s talking to a child. I slap his arm.

“No” I say, his turn to be shocked. I savour the expression before I finish my sentence. “The other girls are getting extravagant ways to be asked, you can be sure as hell you’ll ask me with equal effort, and then we’ll see.”

I wink at him and he grins, sketching me another eloquent bow. “Of course, my lady.” 

I grin back and laugh as three confused boys finally arrive to see their friend bowing before me.

“James! I say, sitting down on Sirius’s bed next to him, leaving James’s bed for him. “I need your last name.”

He obliges and we plot into the night.


End file.
